New Gondi for Whiteface?

https://poststar.com/news/local/orda-mulls-new-gondola-at-whiteface-mountain/article_94ffaf8c-ec8c-5f8a-b8fd-f59067f53bd2.html

I wish for once that ORDA would actually listen to what skiers want, instead of what looks pretty

20 years, I guess we shouldn't be surprised.

In my dream, they get an all new state of the art fixed grip double for LWF.

  

Darkside Shaman wrote

https://poststar.com/news/local/orda-mulls-new-gondola-at-whiteface-mountain/article_94ffaf8c-ec8c-5f8a-b8fd-f59067f53bd2.html

I wish for once that ORDA would actually listen to what skiers want, instead of what looks pretty

So, are you saying you don’t think ORDA should invest in maintaining what is arguably the most important lift at WF?  I guess if you think this is just a facelift I get it, but if it’s necessary infrastructure maintenance.....

I’d like to see a replacement Gondi that traces the current route to a midstation on LWF but then continues up to the true peak, they could put a cabin barn there at the mid station so that they could just operate the lower half during high wind situations. The big payoff would be during early and late season operations when conditions are better on the upper half of the mountain.

A Gondi on the western exposed aspect of the upper mt would run maybe 50% of the time.  Sorry brown but I don’t think you know WF very well.

I applaud Orda for getting ahead of preventive Mait and necessary replacement curves.  I’m impressed with the increase in data driven decision making and strategic thinking that I’ve recently seen.

Yeah, I average one day a year at WF. My gut reaction is that 50 % is a wild exaggeration but you certainly know the place better then me. I guess it’s just a fantasy lift. How about up the middle where the quads are now, with the midstation where they meet?

JTG4eva! wrote

Darkside Shaman wrote

https://poststar.com/news/local/orda-mulls-new-gondola-at-whiteface-mountain/article_94ffaf8c-ec8c-5f8a-b8fd-f59067f53bd2.html

I wish for once that ORDA would actually listen to what skiers want, instead of what looks pretty

So, are you saying you don’t think ORDA should invest in maintaining what is arguably the most important lift at WF?  I guess if you think this is just a facelift I get it, but if it’s necessary infrastructure maintenance.....

I get your point as well as Z's , but IMO the "necessary" infrastructure should be used for lifts that are having constant mechanical issues (Little WF Chair). We have heard rumors of a new chair (Freeway replacement) from the base area to Approach, but now that's silent and a new gondi for next year?

I wonder where the bones will end up? A new/old Gondi from down town NC to the bowl? Maybe this will end up as the project to put a Gondi in from Albany across the Hudson. Just tongue n cheek guessing.

OMG tell me you were stoned when you wrote that last sentence.  They write this shit up in the summer... gets a little press... never to be heard from again.  Most of the things listed I would consider maintenance so why list it as capital expenditure.   If we are paying a firm to maintain the gondola then just do that.  We don't need no stinking upgrades just get the thing mechanically sound and roll with it. New communication line  UMMM cell phone.

Darkside Shaman wrote

I get your point.....

Same here, if this means that WF is abandoning the current Unit Management Plan, and they will be throwing what limited available funds they get at this ounce  of prevention for the gondola at the expense of the pounds of cure needed elsewhere.  However, with all the money the State seems to be throwing at ORDA lately maybe that won’t be the case?

Maybe I'm missing something, but that article doesn't seem to be stating there is a whole new gondola. It looks like just an overhaul of the existing, and at 20 years  with year round use it's really going to be due. 2.4 Million is really low, this just sounds like a mid life refresh to keep it going for another 15 years.

Brownski wrote

Yeah, I average one day a year at WF. My gut reaction is that 50 % is a wild exaggeration but you certainly know the place better then me. I guess it’s just a fantasy lift. How about up the middle where the quads are now, with the midstation where they meet?

The prevailing wind at 3500 to 4000 elevation is from the west and above 25 mph at least half the time
Going from the top of LWF to the summit up the western aspect is very exposed to the wind would be truly stupid

Every lift at WF is well positioned for the wind except the Gondi.  That should have been on a different route but it’s other goal was to promote summer use which dictated its current position.  

The Gondi has been running for 20 years 10 months a year so that is 40 years of normal ski area use

Last season they started loading only 6 on a Gondi made for 8.  There is something wrong with it.  It’s beat to hell and back and it’s better that they upgrade it now rather than the Orda of the past which would wait until the thing died mid season and have no plan to fix it.  

evantful wrote

Maybe I'm missing something, but that article doesn't seem to be stating there is a whole new gondola. It looks like just an overhaul of the existing, and at 20 years  with year round use it's really going to be due. 2.4 Million is really low, this just sounds like a mid life refresh to keep it going for another 15 years.

You're right.

D.B. Cooper wrote

evantful wrote

Maybe I'm missing something, but that article doesn't seem to be stating there is a whole new gondola. It looks like just an overhaul of the existing, and at 20 years  with year round use it's really going to be due. 2.4 Million is really low, this just sounds like a mid life refresh to keep it going for another 15 years.

You're right.

The cars will be replaced as well as the haul cable, drive and comm lines, so basically what Killington did with the K-1 last year, and Gore did as well minus the car replacement.

Z wrote

Brownski wrote

Yeah, I average one day a year at WF. My gut reaction is that 50 % is a wild exaggeration but you certainly know the place better then me. I guess it’s just a fantasy lift. How about up the middle where the quads are now, with the midstation where they meet?

The prevailing wind at 3500 to 4000 elevation is from the west and above 25 mph at least half the time
Going from the top of LWF to the summit up the western aspect is very exposed to the wind would be truly stupid

Every lift at WF is well positioned for the wind except the Gondi.  That should have been on a different route but it’s other goal was to promote summer use which dictated its current position.

This is so true. Being a pilot (for fun) rarely is the wind at 4,000 or even 3,000 less than 20 knots (which is near 25 mph). Over the ADK's even moreso...especially in the winter (winds are much stronger at altitude (normally 30 knots plus at 4,000).

For example I flew from Cortland,NY to Poughkeepsie,NY then Scranton,PA and back yesterday. Even though winds were calm at the surface, they were 25 knots at 3,000...30+ at  and above 5,000.

Given 20 years of heavy summer-winter usage, in the elements, an overhaul seems very reasonable.