We are less than a month to the On Snow portion of SIA at Copper.
Just saying...
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Colorado Copper Mountain Receiving Two New Lifts
Just saying...
I'm thinking Dustin is really busy with lots of problems right now and this is just one of them. Lots of change going on at Copper and it has created some "disorganization" in a lot of areas. Copper used to have best snow stake around and now it sucks....
Copper posted they will be making the big announcement soon on flyer. Hopefully for tomorrow?
Flyer is open!
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2017
- Posts
- 18
I should have known that it would happen after I got back into classes.
Other than making it faster to get up the hill no
As I drove by on my way up to Aspen, it sure looked like there were people on the Flyer -- hope it all works as planned!
Mike
Mike
Oh good, what a relief. It would have been a holiday disaster repeat come MLK weekend. Thanks to all the folks who put in the long hours getting it going!
Can't win. Kokomo lift has been down for a day and a half:
https://twitter.com/CopperCOMMS
It's was running on diesel Saturday and there was somebody working ALL day on an electrical box inside the upper shack that must be for the motor.
There is very little true beginner terrain at Copper without Kokomo.
https://twitter.com/CopperCOMMS
It's was running on diesel Saturday and there was somebody working ALL day on an electrical box inside the upper shack that must be for the motor.
There is very little true beginner terrain at Copper without Kokomo.
This is one of my irritations with the whole thing ... Copper's lifts have been brutal in the past few years. But it seemed like Eagle and Flyer worked ok. Instead of fixing Reso, Super Bee, and the other lifts that are always breaking, they replace the ones that actually usually worked ok.
I agree but Kokomo is only a year or two old right?
That's true, I forgot. (Not over there very often.) It just reminded me of all the other clusters....
This is the new Kokomo's second season. It's a Doppelmayr HSQ. It's been a fantastic improvement over the old slow triple. Guess we can't blame LP for this one.
Good news! As rumors had it, they plan to fix the f'd Flyer this summer by adding some new towers, per an email from the "President" (Dustin Lyman):
So what's the new name for Solitude Station? I guess Solitude is not a great name for somewhere you want a bunch of people to go to after a major investment.
Our $100 million multi-year transformation continues this summer with several projects both on and off the mountain. The new Tucker Mountain lift will provide access to fantastic expert terrain that was previously accessible via snowcat or hiking only. It will run from the base of the Blackjack lift to the top of The Taco. Solitude Station will be no more as of the 2020/21 season as we are constructing a brand new 25,000 square foot mid-mountain lodge that will include a full-service casual restaurant, full-service bar and lounge, private dining area, cafeteria options and incredible views of the Ten Mile Range.
We will also be working with Leitner Poma to make necessary upgrades to our new chairlifts, including additional lift towers to support and optimize the American Flyer for next season. Additional construction will continue in Center Village as we look to reinvent the “lawn” area that exists between the American Flyer and American Eagle lifts. This will become an exceptional venue for live music and summer event.
The Flyer has been a mess all season. They were only loading five people on the six-seat lift the last part of the season. My kids and I had to dive out of the way of a chair rolling back at us while we were standing at the loading platform. I talked to someone who said all the remaining issues were a result of too much slack in the line and they expect a few more towers will fix it.We will also be working with Leitner Poma to make necessary upgrades to our new chairlifts, including additional lift towers to support and optimize the American Flyer for next season. Additional construction will continue in Center Village as we look to reinvent the “lawn” area that exists between the American Flyer and American Eagle lifts. This will become an exceptional venue for live music and summer event.
So what's the new name for Solitude Station? I guess Solitude is not a great name for somewhere you want a bunch of people to go to after a major investment.
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This is my last of many pictures of Tucker Mountain without the lift. I took this on the second to last day before Copper Bowl closed for the season.
Looks like there's some cleanup to do in Freemont One from the slide during the large avalanche cycle. You can still see a bit of the avalanche crown at the treeline of the run on the left. The next run over is Valentines. An avalanche created it on Valentine's day 2014. It didn't exist before that and the trees were as thick as either side.
By chance, I rode the Gondola with four employees from Leitner Poma a few weeks ago. A couple of engineers and a couple of PM's. They were super nice guys and genuinely cared about their product. Very proud of the Eagle, rightfully so as it's working great, and a bit embarrassed about the Flyer but they seemed determined to make it right this summer.
They said the Tucker lift would be "easy" since it's a fixed grip. They have a date for load testing set in October. The only hard part is they have to fly everything in including the top lift shack, their smallest model because of the weight limit, so it's tiny. It will have a nice view, though.
They didn't know who was building the new ski patrol outpost, but it's not LP. Is someone going to fly in the materials for a 1000 s.f. building, or can they drive it up the cat track?
I noticed reading the scoping letter again that there will be a new cell tower on top of Tucker. It will be fantastic to finally have service back there.
Here are the FS docs and map with the details:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=53100
Looks like there's some cleanup to do in Freemont One from the slide during the large avalanche cycle. You can still see a bit of the avalanche crown at the treeline of the run on the left. The next run over is Valentines. An avalanche created it on Valentine's day 2014. It didn't exist before that and the trees were as thick as either side.
By chance, I rode the Gondola with four employees from Leitner Poma a few weeks ago. A couple of engineers and a couple of PM's. They were super nice guys and genuinely cared about their product. Very proud of the Eagle, rightfully so as it's working great, and a bit embarrassed about the Flyer but they seemed determined to make it right this summer.
They said the Tucker lift would be "easy" since it's a fixed grip. They have a date for load testing set in October. The only hard part is they have to fly everything in including the top lift shack, their smallest model because of the weight limit, so it's tiny. It will have a nice view, though.
They didn't know who was building the new ski patrol outpost, but it's not LP. Is someone going to fly in the materials for a 1000 s.f. building, or can they drive it up the cat track?
I noticed reading the scoping letter again that there will be a new cell tower on top of Tucker. It will be fantastic to finally have service back there.
Here are the FS docs and map with the details:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=53100
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- Joined
- Dec 19, 2017
- Posts
- 18
Great info, thanks. Has anyone heard if they are planning any sort of hike or cat access over to Jacque peak?
What I've heard is they want to figure out lift-served Tucker before expanding the snowcat operation. They've hired a bunch of patrollers, but they'll have to see the call volume and how thing goes on Tucker. There's a concern that there's no hike filtering folks and no easy way down, not even a single diamond black run, just double blacks.
The current thought is to eventually expand the snowcat operation onto the backside of Tucker Mountain where they can patrol it from the Tucker Outpost, as they would need an additional patrol outpost to serve Jacques. Hopefully Jaques will come sooner rather than later. They've been talking about a Tucker lift for, what, 20 years?
Here's the final map of Copper Bowl and Tucker without a lift:
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