Stratton's Snow Bowl Poma Quad lift is heading to Magic!
BIG NEWS: Stratton's Snow Bowl Poma Quad lift is heading to Magic to replace Black Chair!
Here's
the press release from this morning below. This a major investment by
SKI MAGIC LLC in our mountain's future and in improving your experience
here as skiers and riders. Lift lines to the absolute minimum, reliable
family-oriented lift service, and keeping our slopes free of heavy
traffic! We plan to have this Quad lift operating for the 2018-19 season
(pending permitting), along with our new base-to-mid mountain Green
Double. Thank you for all your support by making plans to ski and
ride here at Magic!
Press Release:
Stratton’s Snow Bowl Poma Quad Lift Heading Across the Valley to Magic Mountain
--Another Major Upgrade by SKI MAGIC LLC Will Replace Magic’s Current Black Chair Summit Lift--
Londonderry, VT, May 9, 2018 – Magic Mountain is
purchasing and installing Stratton’s current “Snow Bowl” Poma fixed-grip
quad chairlift as a new base-to-summit lift for the 2018/19 season. The
Poma quad lift will replace Magic’s current “Black Chair” which had
been operating as a double passenger capacity lift. The new lift at
Magic will follow a similar lift line up the Black Line trail to the
summit with a slightly higher terminal station in order to access all
trails at Magic.
Magic’s new Poma quad lift, originally built in 1986
and installed at Stratton’s Snow Bowl area, comes with 148 chairs, a
2,000 skier per hour capacity, and has an excellent performance and
maintenance record at Stratton. It will service approximately 1,500
vertical feet with the lift line stretching about 5,000 feet long. The
lift will add significant uphill capacity in combination with Magic’s
current “Red Chair” double summit lift and another new installation to
be completed this off season of a base-to-mid mountain Borvig double
passenger lift (“Green Chair”). The current Black Chair, which the Poma
Quad will replace, only had 113 chairs, was approved as a two-person
carrier, and therefore had a maximum capacity of just 620 riders per
hour. The Poma Quad therefore effectively triples Magic’s uphill
capacity over the current lift.
“When we heard Stratton was replacing their Snow Bowl
lift with a new high-speed detachable, four-passenger lift, our investor
group jumped on the opportunity to try and purchase their Poma
fixed-grip quad”, said Geoff Hatheway, President of SKI MAGIC LLC. “For
our ski community, this lift is a huge upgrade that meets and manages
our current and future growth expectations, better fulfills customer
desires for quality, reliable lift service at Magic, and sustains our
reputation as an area with both minimal lift lines and low on-slope
skier density.”
Stratton is taking down the Snow Bowl lift this month
and then Magic will have the lift transported across the valley (about
15 miles) to its Londonderry location.
“It’s great to see this dependable lift live on in
southern Vermont, and I want to acknowledge Bill Nupp, President and COO
of Stratton, and all our neighbors there for making this purchase
happen”, continued Geoff Hatheway. “We occupy a very different place in
the industry than Stratton, but Bill and his team really wanted to make
this possible for us. It’s a true example of the big guy on the block
helping the little guy out and supporting the diversity of experiences
uniquely available here in southern Vermont—all within just a few miles
of each other.”
Magic plans for its lift contractors to begin work
this summer and fall on the new summit Black Line Poma Quad, after the
installation is complete on the mid-mountain Green Lift. Magic will
operate the new quad as the primary summit lift every weekend and
holiday period, with the famed Red Chair continuing as an additional
lift on busy weekends plus pulling main duty on lighter traffic
weekdays.
In total, this will be a major $1 million capital
investment in the new lift by SKI MAGIC LLC which will help attract more
skiers and riders to the southern Vermont and Windham County region who
are interested in a classic, old-school mountain vibe.
--End Release--
- Geoff
SKI MAGIC LLC
Where skiing still has its soul.
Comments
But this is great news....we all love funky lifts, but that frankenlift was going to become unusable soon.
JD
This is great news.
This is great news.
Yes this is great news usually I'm not for these massive ski areas upgrade from doubles to high speed 6 person bubble lifts that more and more ski areas are doing , as I really don't mind riding slow chairs and I rather have a few less runs with good snow then a ton of runs with boiler plate. However there comes a time when lifts NEED to be replaced and this is one of them. Black chair while not "unsafe" certainly had a lot of issues and cosmeticly needed some work so it's a great investment and opportunity for the mountain and the industry. To say the area is unattractive because of this lift improvement is crazy. Your entitled to your own thoughts , but good luck finding better terrain at that price south of MRG.
I agree that it will still be one of the best options in the area. What I'm saying is that it takes me almost 3 hours to drive to Magic one way. With the new quad, I will now be more likely to choose other areas, such as Dartmouth, Black, Tenney, and Mount Abram. I wonder if/how much this will affect the vibe of the area.
If it’s already there, and in good shape, a back-up is a
good idea. I think it was around Christmas 1986 when Stowe installed their
Forerunner HSQ. In advance they removed the Mansfield double. I guess the
single had been removed earlier. I was in the lift line at Stratton with Stowe
season pass holders. Their new lift wasn’t running. I heard people say, “If
only they kept the double, we could reach the summit.” They finally figured out
that one or both bull wheels (I don’t recall) were the wrong size. So having a
back-up lift, if it’s there and usable, is a good thing.
The second half of
the Liftblog.com article is nothing new. But there is a 4 min. video. Magic staff
ride the Red Chair talking about this summer’s work. They say $1.6 mill., the
same as the article. I think that includes finishing the Green Chair and
snowmaking pond expansion. So Stratton gave them a great deal. In the comments
(included below), there’s a question about a loading carpet and line speed. 485
fpm is fast w/o a carpet, but where did that figure come from? So I looked at
Liftblog’s stats for the Snow Bowl, they say 550 fpm. That’s not correct for a FGQ.
Two New Lifts Are Coming to Magic Mountain
May 9, 2018Peter
Landsman11 Comments
They call it “the road less traveled,” a classic Vermont
mountain situated about half way between Stratton and Okemo. Now in its
second year of new ownership, Magic Mountain has carved a successful niche
offering top quality, affordable skiing despite a competitive landscape.
Ski Magic LLC added a new carpet lift and restarted work on a new double chair
to service intermediate terrain soon after taking over operations in late
2016. Fresh off a successful 2017-18 season with increased skier visits,
investors plan to spend an impressive $1.6 million on key infrastructure this
summer including two important new chairlifts.
In addition to completing the Green Chair
project by early summer, Magic announced today that a Poma quad chair will
replace the Black lift, which dates back to the middle of last century.
The 1962 Pohlig double was once converted to a triple with Yan chairs before
being turned back into a double in recent years. Today it sports towers
from Pohlig, Hall and possibly Poma and the time has finally come to retire it.
Any idea if the new Black Line chair will have a
loading carpet? 485 fpm over 5000 ft is an awful lot quicker in terms of ride
time than 450 (or less)…
+1
There will not be a loading carpet. Magic confirmed this on social media.
I also do not think that Stratton "gave them a deal", although they could have - I am not privy to that. What I am privy too is there was original concern that Stratton and/or Alterra would not want to sell to - and help - a nearby "competitor". That obviously was not the case, and based on the article, its because Bill Nupp made it happen.
On a different moving lift note- When Bousquet got the Hall chair from Eastover, George told me the Bousquet crew took there machines and tools to Eastover. They had the lift down and moved into Bousquets parking lot in one day.
Eastover in Mass, Lenox area? I stayed there once and sent the info to Jeremy for NELSAP. Little tiny 150'? vert area, with an old but very salvageable Hall double.
Regarding Green, lots of work was done last year. Chairs repaired and painted. Sheathes cleaned, painted and new ones milled. Bull wheel barings repaired. New cable and com line delivered. Probably lots more that I am unaware of.
I have to assume that the group they hired to finish Green also did the analysis on what was required to install Black, and the timelines to do Green and then Black, and it all worked. So lets hope all goes according to plan.
thesnowway.com
There are two threads covering the new chair. I’m using this
one. The following are minor points, but that’s what we do. I’ve seen that
Magic’s chairs listed as short as 5100 (5500 on NESH). But let’s say the new Black
line is 5200’, a bit over 300’ ground
length (+600’ total) of haul rope will need to be added. Of course the Magic
announcement isn’t trying to cover every detail. But my guess is, they won’t
buy/find more chairs, they’ll just stretch those 148 out. Below stats are from
Liftblog and NESkiHistory. I don’t think Liftblog is accurate when they list
550 fpm for any fixed grip lift. I don’t think VT permits over 500. They list
one of the fastest fixed grips in NE, Sugarloaf’s Skyline at 485. They do have
Sunday River’s new Spruce triple (also loading carpet) at 500. So the capacity
will be under 2000 pph. But that’s way more than the current 620 pph.
Will they need to pour new tower pads? Will they need to
find another tower or two? As I said, these are minor points; getting the Snow
Bowl quad is a great move for Magic.
pph vert length chairs speed
Snow 2000 1380 4877 148 550
Red 1500 5350
Black 1500 5500 113
They will not add more cable, you avoid double splices especially that close together. So what they have for towersand cable length is what they have to work with. New footings yes.
Outpost runs around the same speed
as Challenger at Snow, normal speed is around 450.
edit I love those two triples and think they are perfect for over there hope they are never replaced but that's just me lol.