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Talisman

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Fascinating. Doesn't seem like it will warm you much, but I guess it's better than your butt warming the chair.

The heated seats on the new Powder Seeker HS-6 at Big Sky are noticeably warm when sitting. They are more comfortable than I thought they would be on cold days. The HS-6 was a huge draw to guests compared to the old triple.
 

Jacob

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Maybe this is what you're saying, but the heater gets charged when it's on the slow cable as it enters the base, and then it stops adding heat after it goes back on the fast cable. But the heat is designed to linger at least somewhat. It's very nice on the PowderSeeker lift, at least when it's working.

I believe Big Sky has said it will be carpet loaded. I would assume that will mean gates as well. The previous lift had people approaching from two sides quite often, so if they do things sensibly they'll set up some sort of left side approach and right side approach and avoid people crossing over.

Yeah, the heat lingers for a bit, but not all that long. The main thing is that it melts any snow that is falling and keeps the chairs from dropping to the same temperature as the outside air.

If you skip to about 1:10 in this video, you can see what I mean about the individual gates and the lines on the loading carpet.


When you're trying to get 5 or more people on a chair, those gates and lines make it much easier for people to line themselves up properly in the loading zone before the chair gets there.

(That video is also good for showing just how quickly Europeans pull down the safety bar after sitting down. I'm surprised that those guys pulled down the bubble though. I guess the wind was making it really cold that day. Most people don't pull it down when it's sunny.)
 
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SShore

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This snow we are getting is great, but I hope it doesn't delay the installation of the new lifts. I have already been hearing rumors around town that the Ramcharger 8 won't be ready when the mountain opens. That may not matter the first few weeks if all the have open are the WROD runs, but without it you can't open the five other lifts on that side.
 

Talisman

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This snow we are getting is great, but I hope it doesn't delay the installation of the new lifts. I have already been hearing rumors around town that the Ramcharger 8 won't be ready when the mountain opens. That may not matter the first few weeks if all the have open are the WROD runs, but without it you can't open the five other lifts on that side.

If Ramcharger isn't open use the summer mountain biking approach of Lowdog Road to Thunder Wolf?
 

Talisman

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Wouldn't there be a fair bit of uphill travel to get to Low Dog?
Not if you go along the rod past the Arrow head condos and homes on Low Dog Road, "trail" is flat in the paved section and then drops into the real Low Dog trail at the end of the pavement. The mountain bikers were using this route this summer and I use it to get home after the lifts close sometimes. You can take the "poop chute" all the way to the meadow.

The hard way is hiking up the unnamed work road above the Cabin/Scissor Bills to the height of land at Colters Hell and dropping into the bottom of Mine Saft/War Dance to Low Dog. This route is worth it if it snowing and the Ramcharger is down
 

Talisman

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Gents, no worries, It’s dopplemyer .... it will be ready ! I’ve seen them pull off some miracles in the past
Fingers crossed, I was concerned last year with the slow progress of the new Challenger lift which was far longer, but it was ready for season opening.
 

David Chaus

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Last April at the Banff Gathering, at Sunshine I rode the TeePee Town lift a couple times, which is a heated bubble quad. It is nice to have the heated seat for the first 30 seconds or so. No, you don’t have to have the Lexan bubble down if you don’t want it, but I imagine it’s handy in places that get a lot of wind, or as in the case at the Wizard express chair at Blackcomb, at lower elevations with the possibility of rain.
 

Tricia

The Velvet Hammer
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Where's @James when this kind of discussion comes up?
Meanwhile, the photos of the construction in the OP link are crazy cool.
 

milkman

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Fascinating. Doesn't seem like it will warm you much, but I guess it's better than your butt warming the chair.

The Powder Seeker six place is the only heated chair I've experienced. It's shorter than the new 8 pack. I was surprised the you really notice the warmth on a cold day. Lots of positive comments. A real WOW factor for some and a simple NICE from others.
 

tball

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Gents, no worries, It’s dopplemyer .... it will be ready ! I’ve seen them pull off some miracles in the past
Here's hoping Leitner Poma can pull off a miracle at Copper.

Copper's opening day is six weeks from today. Here's a live shot looking up the lift line of the missing lift that serves the WROD:

1538775424511.jpg
https://www.coppercolorado.com/the-mountain/webcams/mountain

Looks like they got the concrete poured a couple weeks ago, though:


Those pilots are in one crazy business!
 

Tony S

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One-percenter areas. Feh. Cry me a river over your minor slowdowns. This is the guy whose home mountain has been closed for three years because no one can afford to replace a fifty-year-old double with a ten-year-old fixed grip quad. Sniff. See y'all out in heaven.
 

Tony S

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LOL
 

Talisman

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One-percenter areas. Feh. Cry me a river over your minor slowdowns. This is the guy whose home mountain has been closed for three years because no one can afford to replace a fifty-year-old double with a ten-year-old fixed grip quad. Sniff. See y'all out in heaven.
Do you live in the numbered Townships? Come on out for a visit and I will show you around while you wait for the lift at Big Squaw gets replaced.
 

Tony S

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Do you live in the numbered Townships?

LOL. Hardly. Cumberland County slicker. I was talking about Saddleback, not Squaw. But yes, planning to check out the new 8 pack in person. ogsmile
 

tball

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One-percenter areas.
Not sure about that. I think, maybe, larger ski areas see a good majority of skier visits?

Does anyone know the distribution of skier visits to large vs medium and small areas? Is there a long tail of smaller ski areas that aggregate to more visits than the big guys?

Looks like Big Sky had a record at something like 500K visits last year:
http://www.explorebigsky.com/big-sky-resort-shatters-skier-visitation-record

IIRC, Big Sky's 500K visits are just enough to break into the top 20. The amount of capital required to remain competitive even at that level is astounding.
 

mdf

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Yeah, the heat lingers for a bit, but not all that long. The main thing is that it melts any snow that is falling and keeps the chairs from dropping to the same temperature as the outside air.

If you skip to about 1:10 in this video, you can see what I mean about the individual gates and the lines on the loading carpet.


When you're trying to get 5 or more people on a chair, those gates and lines make it much easier for people to line themselves up properly in the loading zone before the chair gets there.

(That video is also good for showing just how quickly Europeans pull down the safety bar after sitting down. I'm surprised that those guys pulled down the bubble though. I guess the wind was making it really cold that day. Most people don't pull it down when it's sunny.)

Hmmm, they are off the carpet by the time the chair picks them up. That is different from what I've experienced, and would address my major complaint about carpets. On a traditional chair the chair bumps you and you slide forward a bit as you sit down, mitigating the impact. On a carpet, your skis are glued to the carpet and you get the impact full force. Maybe it's an adjustment thing, with the carpet speed poorly matched to the chair speed.
Capture.PNG
 

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