Northern Rockies/Alberta Big Sky 2019-2020

[milkman]

Still golfing here. How’s it skiing in BS?

 

[BS Slarver]

Conditions here are good enough to go 5 of the first 5 days for us.

There are no crowds and decent coverage despite having minimal natural snow.
Powder seeker and Challenger are spinning with Avi work going in the PS bowl and upper mountain areas
No new weather systems are in the forecast for BS in the next week but we woke up to an unexpected 6” this morning.
Had to postpone work and use the first POW clause of the season.

 

[BS Slarver]

Just in and the deal inked.
Swifty will be the next lift to get a replaced not the explorer double.
Summer of 20 will bring a 6 person version of ramcharger with same direct drive heated bubble.

 

[Talisman]

Summer of 20 will bring a 6 person version of ramcharger with same direct drive heated bubble.

Yes! Swifty is one of the weak links of the BS lift system and replacement is needed.

 

[Lift Blog]

Just in and the deal inked.
Swifty will be the next lift to get a replaced not the explorer double.
Summer of 20 will bring a 6 person version of ramcharger with same direct drive heated bubble.

That would be awesome. Have a source?

 

[BS Slarver]

Lift maintenance department

 

[Tiki]

Hallelujah! Thanks for sharing such great news!

 

[milkman]

Sounds like the gondola and new ski school area might be on hold? The high speed quad that was recently the industry standard suffers in comparison to the new heated and covered lifts. Also might indicate a plan for refurbishing and repurposing Swifty at another location. An alternative way up the mountain on the opposite side of the base area near the parking lot is still needed.

 

[BS Slarver]

Hope my information pans out and is correct, the lift maintenance personnel seemed stoked about it!
Perhaps the news should have waited till the 20-21 Thread - oh well.

love to see swifty changed out before a new gondi to nearly the same unloading i.e. base of Powder seeker. Beginners have 3 carpets and explorer.

@milkman - How about moving / modifying Swifty to load at top of Dakoda or Shedhorn into Liberty bowl ? A game changer for the tram line - just a rumor

 

[Tiki]

@BS Slarver this possible event news will remain right here. Not sharing!

 

[milkman]

Sounds good to me. Published concern from BS is “too much traffic on Liberty will ruin the snow”.
Maybe stop short of the rock band to avoid coverage issues. I’ve always thought a center bar double would be an improvement over nothing!
Might even be used as a big upgrade at one of Boyne’s smaller properties.

 

[Skisailor]

Hope my information pans out and is correct, the lift maintenance personnel seemed stoked about it!
Perhaps the news should have waited till the 20-21 Thread - oh well.

love to see swifty changed out before a new gondi to nearly the same unloading i.e. base of Powder seeker. Beginners have 3 carpets and explorer.

@milkman - How about moving / modifying Swifty to load at top of Dakoda or Shedhorn into Liberty bowl ? A game changer for the tram line - just a rumor

Horrible idea. First - any lift like that on the south side would be constantly on wind hold.

Second - increasing lift capacity to the peak from a new lift or from a larger capacity tram will fundamentally forever change the unique experience that Lone Peak provides. We would convert Liberty, Marx and Lenin into incredibly dangerous top to bottom bump runs. Injuries will go way up (ask European resorts about this) and the chance to ski GS turns down Lone Peak’s long steep runs will be forever lost.

Wait in line. And savor the rare experience that Big Sky's Lone Peak provides.

 

[skidrew]

Just in and the deal inked.
Swifty will be the next lift to get a replaced not the explorer double.
Summer of 20 will bring a 6 person version of ramcharger with same direct drive heated bubble.

let the questions begin as to why an 8 on Andesite but only a 6 for Swifty.

though I think the answer is the gondola is still coming maybe just not as soon.

 

[BS Slarver]

Certainly not my ideas SS and again a bowl lift was just chair lift chat !
What European resorts are you speaking of with these incredibly dangerous runs ?

Wait in line, yesterday it was walk on, no wait ! I wont wait mid season for 40 - 1hr for any lift, there are far too many great runs here to do that !

 

[Talisman]

I wont wait mid season for 40 - 1hr for any lift, there are far too many great runs here to do that !

I am with you. Tram runs are fun, but not waiting in long lines when there are other steep lines waiting from other lifts.

 

[skidrew]

Certainly not my ideas SS and again a bowl lift was just chair lift chat !
What European resorts are you speaking of with these incredibly dangerous runs ?

Wait in line, yesterday it was walk on, no wait ! I wont wait mid season for 40 - 1hr for any lift, there are far too many great runs here to do that !

I've heard the same thing about the idea of a Dakota/Shedhorn lift up to the peak - that it would make it too crowded and ruin what makes it special.

A tram upgrade is in the long-range plan, so hopefully that would alleviate the issue somewhat with greater capacity. Though it wouldn't solve the problem that most of the runs down require a relatively long traverse back over to get to the peak.

 

[MN_Drew]

Agreed that a chair up Liberty Bowl would be too much capacity for that terrain. It would be nice, I think, to see a higher-capacity tram replacement. I think there's got to be a balance somewhere in the middle between the current 200 per hour and the 2400 per hour that an HSQ would bring.

A refurbished Swifty seems most likely to replace Lone Moose or Iron Horse. I'd love to see it in a new alignment on the Moonlight side though, either servicing some of the terrain currently accessed only off of Lone Tree, or perhaps servicing new terrain below Six Shooter.

 

[ejj]

Yes to a new Swifty. This is always a trouble spot. Yes to replacing the tram with a bigger tram.

 

[skidrew]

A refurbished Swifty seems most likely to replace Lone Moose or Iron Horse. I'd love to see it in a new alignment on the Moonlight side though, either servicing some of the terrain currently accessed only off of Lone Tree, or perhaps servicing new terrain below Six Shooter.

The Moonlight plan, for what it's worth, has a lift from where Six Shooter is up to Lookout Ridge.

https://www.moonlightbasin.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Moonlight-Basin-Property-Map.pdf

Swifty is about the same length as Six Shooter, so should be able to make that stretch just fine. That said, ideally any lift in that direction would provide full service to the terrain off Lone Tree, not just a way to go back down to the base.

 

[Skisailor]

Certainly not my ideas SS and again a bowl lift was just chair lift chat !
What European resorts are you speaking of with these incredibly dangerous runs ?

Wait in line, yesterday it was walk on, no wait ! I wont wait mid season for 40 - 1hr for any lift, there are far too many great runs here to do that !

Verbier- the Mont Fort. Sella Ronda: - Langkofelscharte. (The lift is closed in the winter nowadays because too many people have died or got seriously injured). But really any of the resorts with large trams to very steep terrain. Apparently, Stephen Kircher is aware of this and got an eye opener visiting a number of European resorts and talking to their ski patrol directors.
Folks at Jackson say Rendezvous Bowl is ruined now after their larger tram replacement.

And there is our own experience at Big Sky! It’s why we no longer allow skiers to ski Otter Slide from the very top. The constricted area resulted in huge bumps even with our current tram capacity and there were too many injuries.