Okemo Announces New 6 Passenger Bubble Chair

From Okemo's website.  This will have very comfortable seats that are heated not to mention having a bubble to get out of the wind.  Sounds like my kind of lift.  



We're seeing orange!
We’re seeing orange here at Okemo Mountain Resort for the winter of 2014/15!
 
The cornerstone of our improvement plan for the upcoming winter is a brand new Leitner-Poma six-passenger bubble chair to replace the Northstar Express Quad. This is far and away the biggest lift project we’ve ever undertaken here at Okemo.
We're seeing orange at Okemo!Orange is Uplifting
The soon-to-be-named new lift will transport skiers and riders over 6400 feet in 6.4 minutes and is the longest lift at Okemo. 113 chairs will each transport 6 skiers and riders per bubble.

Okemo’s new six-passenger bubble chair is a truly one-of-a-kind lift in North America. In addition to a plush ride (think "flying sofa"), each seat is heated, offering a comfortable ride up the mountain on even the coldest of days. Okemo will offer the only chairlift in the Northeast with heated seats. A new heated storage barn will be constructed alongside the base terminal, and the chairs will be removed nightly from the line, keeping them warm and dry during inclement weather.

Construction of this amazing new lift has already begun, with fabrication underway at Leitner Poma facilities in Colorado and Europe. In addition, the deconstruction of the Northstar Express quad is well underway, with our veteran lift heading to our sister resort, Mount Sunapee, to replace their Sunbowl quad. We’re moving web cams into place at both top and bottom to allow visitors to Okemo.com to witness this historic project taking shape.
We anticipate opening the new lift in early- to mid-December, 2014.
- See more at: http://www.okemo.com/activities/snowsports/ticketing/orange_is_whats_new.asp#sthash.7NlhyLeE.dpuf 


This confirms that I will try and go there next year so I can experience it.  Now I will have two state of the art lifts to try out next year, one at Gore, and one at Okemo.

I feel so inadequate in what seems like the emerging lift wars. I guess I'll have to go out and buy a new parka and a pair of BAC magic carpets.

So... they are taking down their quad which already backs up and replacing it with a 6 pack?  Which not just build next to the quad?  Seems like a waste for 2 more chairs.  

if you can't ride an unheated chair lift, you don't deserve to ski. and, how about not wearing face masks unless it is below 20*. i now see skiers wearing full facial protection against cold during spring skiing and stuffing their mittens with heater packs. it's a sign of the softening of the american society. end of rant.

frk wrote

if you can't ride an unheated chair lift, you don't deserve to ski. and, how about not wearing face masks unless it is below 20*. i now see skiers wearing full facial protection against cold during spring skiing and stuffing their mittens with heater packs. it's a sign of the softening of the american society. end of rant.

Except for bashing me that I can't ride an unheated chair lift (I have never ridden one in my life), everything you said is true, and actually quite comical to witness.  Just saying that I want to experience a heated chair lift doesn't mean that I can't ride an unheated one.  Overdressing is so common and is just a sign that everyone is softening when it comes to weather.  I remember I was in NYC last December during that nasty thaw.  There were so many children in winter coats, hats, gloves, and snow boots despite the fact that it was 60 degrees out and I was roasting in just my sweater and needed to take it off.  I only use hand warmers when temps are in the low teens and I have the choice of either putting them in, or going into the lodge every 2 runs.  I generally don't use my face mask if it is over 25 degrees.  I agree so much with the park about the softening of society, that I have made another thread just for discussing it.  http://forum.nyskiblog.com/The-Softening-of-Society-td4041341.html

I hate those heater packs and have never used them. They seem to be semi-instant trash. Open, throw plastic on the snowpack. 2 hours later toss the used bags. I'd ban them if I was in charge.

ml242 wrote

I hate those heater packs and have never used them. They seem to be semi-instant trash. Open, throw plastic on the snowpack. 2 hours later toss the used bags. I'd ban them if I was in charge.

I can't say how many times I have gotten on any gondola and found hand warmer trash in there.  On the occasion that I use them, I make sure that all trash ends up in the garbage can, and not on the slopes.  I find them very uncomfortable and annoying, so I only use them when it is so cold, that I would need to go inside every 2 runs to warm up.

Loco this is perfect for you

Boring groomers and a cushy chair

Okemo and Park City's marketing demographic are identical

The heated part... I don't really want the heat.  Sometimes I'm too hot in the gondi too.  The bubble can be nice if your lift isn't in a windy spot.Would rather be cold than on wind hold.

Coach Z wrote

Loco this is perfect for you

Boring groomers and a cushy chair

Okemo and Park City's marketing demographic are identical

Not really, Okemo has skiing whereas Park City now just has parking.

Coach Z wrote

Loco this is perfect for you

Boring groomers and a cushy chair

Okemo and Park City's marketing demographic are identical

That's why I am going next year.

You have plane tickets for Park City right now? I suppose you could always ski the other resorts... it's definitely an odd situation there. They could pull the towers any day or be open for business as usual! Pass sales must be atrocious.

not a fan of heated seats. my wife always goofs on me with the car seat heaters - she always cranks 'em to make me think I might have sharted

the orange tint may be kind of weird, wassup with that?

snoloco wrote

Coach Z wrote

Loco this is perfect for you

Boring groomers and a cushy chair

Okemo and Park City's marketing demographic are identical

That's why I am going next year.

Sno you da man bro.

snoloco, my rant was directed towards the ski industry. this arms race is bad for the future of skiing. first, these improvements are expensive and skiing doesn't need to increase its basic costs. second, competitors might be forced to install heated seats or risk losing market share. third, just when the skiing industry needs to attract more skiers i.e. younger demographics, these improvements will just keep prices high. finally, the skiing public might begin to think of heated seats are a necessity like snow making further dooming small areas which don't have the financial wherewithal to constantly upgrade. skiing is a sport which should have rough edges. i hear more people complaining that the ski experience wasn't perfect--not enough grooming, too many moguls, too cold, lift line too long, too much wind,blahblahblah. hmm, this unusual, i usually don't have the need to rant like this during the summer.

Skiing will never be like it use to be, the equipment changed it forever. I wouldn't even consider skiing some of the things I ski with 7' solid wood boards and leather boots. If you want to experience skiing like it use to be there is the old Thunderbolt. On a good day it can be amazing, but some years there are no good days.

Harvey wrote

The heated part... I don't really want the heat.  Sometimes I'm too hot in the gondi too.  The bubble can be nice if your lift isn't in a windy spot.Would rather be cold than on wind hold.

You aren't exactly going to work up a sweat skiing Okemo...

frk wrote

snoloco, my rant was directed towards the ski industry. this arms race is bad for the future of skiing. first, these improvements are expensive and skiing doesn't need to increase its basic costs. second, competitors might be forced to install heated seats or risk losing market share. third, just when the skiing industry needs to attract more skiers i.e. younger demographics, these improvements will just keep prices high. finally, the skiing public might begin to think of heated seats are a necessity like snow making further dooming small areas which don't have the financial wherewithal to constantly upgrade. skiing is a sport which should have rough edges. i hear more people complaining that the ski experience wasn't perfect--not enough grooming, too many moguls, too cold, lift line too long, too much wind,blahblahblah. hmm, this unusual, i usually don't have the need to rant like this during the summer.

The lift this thing is replacing was built in 1992.  I'm sure it has been re-furbed once or twice.  Hopefully they are doing this smart and not replacing everything.  Kind of blows my mind they would not just build a duplicate lift... this mountain has awful bottlenecks at this lift.  Adding 2 more passengers won't do too much to fix this... 6 packs load slow and have all kinds of unloading issues.  This is a response to mount snow's bubble... and they just raised the heated seats (that probably won't be functional in 2 years anyway).  Kind of blows my mind that these mountains would install a lift that requires all chairs to be pulled every night and that has that big of a wind cross section.  

ml242 wrote

You have plane tickets for Park City right now?

No, I'm talking about Okemo.

gorgonzola wrote

not a fan of heated seats. my wife always goofs on me with the car seat heaters - she always cranks 'em to make me think I might have sharted

Almost got a spit-take out of me with that one!