High Peaks/Dark Side Chair Replacement Speculation

As we know, lifts are my specialty, so I thought I would put this up.

The High Peaks Chair is on its last straw.  It caused a rope evac this season and many times when there is a major failure on an old lift, it gets pulled the following summer.  Examples of this are Hunter high speed quad, Hunter Z lift, Sugarloaf Spillway lift, and Gore AE1.  I am thinking that Mike Pratt may have told the state that he wanted to do the Dark Side lift this summer after it caused a rope evac this year.

So what will it be replaced with?  I personally would like it to stay a double so the capacity does not overcrowd the narrow trails in that area.  However, if it is extended to the summit like Mike Pratt said was the plan, there might be additional traffic on it from people using the AE2 and new Dark Side lift to access the summit vs. waiting for the gondola.  Maybe this extra traffic would necessitate it being a triple, or even a quad.  I sort of think that a double would be fine though because the current chair is not a full capacity double (only 800pph).  The new one could be built as a full capacity double (1,200 pph) to handle the extra traffic which would primarily be going to the Straightbrook area anyway.  I would think that the point of extending the new High Peaks Chair to the summit would be a way of taking people out of the gondola line and getting them on the underutilized lift and not just putting them in another line.  For this reason, I think that it is very important that the capacity be enough to handle the people traversing to Straightbrook, but not too much so the Dark Side trails are not overcrowded.  What does everyone else want to see as the new High Peaks lift?  Any discussion of that lift replacement goes here, similar to the AE2 thread.

I want: fixed grip double same capacity. Goes to the top of Rumor.

fixed grip single that goes to where it used to...just sayin

Where exactly did it go? I thought it was the top of Rumor.

Back by where the tower is...above the outhouse at the beginning of upper Steilhang

So from there you could really ski anything.

How would that add more traffic on the Dark Side?

I think the seats should be really uncomfortable, like with little nails sticking out of the cushions.

Come on now, use your imagination.
I'm thinking high speed 6 with heated padded seats, reclining if possible. A place to plug your iphone into, add a bubble with a heads up display that shows rap videos. To accommodate all the crowds they cut all the trees and grade all the trails, mak'em wide, straight and constant pitch. Make Gore just like every other boring place out there. Should it be bottom drive or top - now there is the question, how about middle drive - they can put a mid station right at cloud. Oh yea - they need a waffle hut there too.


Besides, nails in the chairs would just make a mess.  

I think that a full capacity double that gives access to the entire summit area would work best.  End it near the top of Rumor with a way to get to Hawkeye and Chaitemac (don't know if I spelled it right).  Keep the bottom drive just like the old and be sure to have cushy seats to follow the trend with the AE2, Hudson Chair, and BRQ.

sudsnbumps wrote

Back by where the tower is...above the outhouse at the beginning of upper Steilhang

If it were to go to this spot, I think it'd be perfect since you could access pretty much anything. If it were to go right to the top of Rumor (or the top of the trail next to Rumor that they stopped cutting), accessing Chatiemac and Hawkeye would be a slight pain (uphill) and you'd still have to skate toward Cloud/Lies. The latter could be solved by keeping the current end point as a "mid" station that you could get off at to more easily access Lies and below. I doubt they'd opt for a mid-station since it'd likely have to be manned.

No mid station... just knock down a bit of that uphill in front of the warming hut...  Anyone else think that thing is worse this year?  Would much rather see the old gondola building turned into another lodge vs a high speed lift.  I would also hate to see a lift with taller or more towers... I love the way that lift hugs the ground.  

sudsnbumps wrote

Back by where the tower is...above the outhouse at the beginning of upper Steilhang

The last double before the existing double ended right in front of the warming hut.

If the chair goes to the top of Rumor, do they re-"open" "Upper Upper"?

T bar, FTW! I love a good surface lift especially for areas that often hit with high winds.

In the early 90's when I still lived on the ec I loved the Plattekill t-bar. I thought it was bad ass.

When the chair unloaded on Cloud, just below the warming hut, there was congestion as bad as we now have at the Saddle. The area was a mess to get through. One possibility may be to realign the liftline to unload at the top of the abandoned trail start located to skier's left of Rumor, but even that location will have navigation issues.
Personally, I don't think the summit can support much many more skiers. I'm ok with where the lift unloads now.

adkskier wrote

When the chair unloaded on Cloud, just below the warming hut, there was congestion as bad as we now have at the Saddle. The area was a mess to get through. One possibility may be to realign the liftline to unload at the top of the abandoned trail start located to skier's left of Rumor, but even that location will have navigation issues.
Personally, I don't think the summit can support much many more skiers. I'm ok with where the lift unloads now.

I disagree.
You forgot that the red gondola also delivered people to the top and many of those people were headed to Cloud. Maybe this is what you are remembering. I actually do not remember any congestion near the warming hut, let alone 'Saddle like congestion'. Even if there was congestion - there is no red gondola delivering additional people to the top.
Moving the HP Chair to its previous top terminal site in front of the warming hut will not increase the congestion with the current configuration at the top of Gore.

YUKON CORNELIUS wrote

If the chair goes to the top of Rumor, do they re-"open" "Upper Upper"?

hope not

x10003q wrote

I disagree.
You forgot that the red gondola also delivered people to the top and many of those people were headed to Cloud. Maybe this is what you are remembering.

Excellent point X ! I just can't see a new terminal position up there causing any traffic issue.

My vote would be for an at the summit terminal,,, top o stiel area. Then remove old Gondi building and a few trees to facilitate flow.

Snowballs wrote

My vote would be for an at the summit terminal,,, top o stiel area. Then remove old Gondi building and a few trees to facilitate flow.

They have said a few times they want to turn that into a lodge with toilets and such.  Maybe even a small food stand type thing.  Hope that happens, having to bomb out or see what happens in the outhouses can be a real drag.  

Are those outhouses still BYOTP?

No, fir branch.