Wachusett Summit Lift Construction

skelley19

Wachusett is replacing the 1994 Dop summit quad with a Dop 6 pack this summer. They have been working quickly to get the old lift down. While hiking and earning turns over the past few weeks I have observed that they got haul rope off and then another day I saw them dragging the cut com lines off the mountain behind side by side UTVs. I also saw them gutting the operator house of the controls. Today it looks like they are making progress on getting the lower terminal down which you can see from the web cams. Here is a link to the web cams if you want to watch.

snowphoenix

I completely understand the need to replace this lift, but some small part of me will miss it. I'll always remember those quiet rides alone right at the end of a night skiing session, where you contemplating life as you hear people scrape their way down Tenth Mountain Trail underneath you. Then I would usually finish the night on a high note by bombing down Smith Walton, my typical last run at Wachusett.

From the webcam it seems like they are carefully disassembling it rather than just fully demolishing it, so I'm hopeful they're planning to sell the lift and we'll see it be reinstalled at a new mountain.

But installing the six pack is a great step forward for Wachusett and I look forward to riding it!

obienick

One correction, the new six pack will be made by a Leitner-Pima.

DrJeff

obienick;c-68569 wroteOne correction, the new six pack will be made by a Leitner-Pima.

Unless that's a very recent change, pretty sure all of their socials and the recent storm skiing jounal podcast about Wachusett said the new lift, just like all of their existing high speeds, will be a Dopp

obienick

Perhaps I’m wrong. I swear a friend sent me a pic of a LP 6 pack carrier as a seat on their base patio. But I can’t seem to find it now.

newpylong

New lift will be a Dopp.

skelley19

I hiked Wachusett over the weekend and checked in on the progress. Both the bottom and top terminals have been removed. The offload ramp was still present but I imagine that will need to be replaced for the additional width of a 6 pack. The towers were all still standing and I was wondering if they were going to get flown off the hill or dragged down. I got my answer this morning when Wawa had a chopper landing in the parking lot shared on IG. I won't have time to get out there but looks like they will be flying the towers off today.

skelley19

Also there was lots of equipment staged in the main parking lot including bull wheels and towers.

obienick

Before or after the helicopter? If before that means Dopp has already delivered a lot of important components.

If they were painted and not galvanized they're parts from the quad. Wachusett is trying to sell it.

skelley19

Sorry before the chopper and definitely new parts staged in the main parking lot. Galvanized tower poles, 2 piece split bull wheels, etc.

I think all parts of the old lift are down in one of the lower overflow lots. I didn't notice any parts of the old lift in the main lot during my visits. From some of the chopper video that they posted they appeared to be landing the towers in an overflow lot.

I am very curious if they will find a buyer for it. Old lift with tons of hours but it has been very reliable for them and I am pretty sure they had Dop redo the electronics/brake system just a couple years back so maybe it has some decent life left in it.

skelley19

This coming Friday 9/5 is helicopter day for flying in the towers. Spectators welcome to watch from the base per IG post.

bubblecuffer

The helicopter probably should have just dropped off all of the old lift towers in the Tenney parking lot as they were being extracted. That mountain begs for this lift, among other stuff.

newpylong

At 4300 feet and change and designed for ~1,000 vert the Polaris Quad would come up quite short to replace the Hornet at Tenney.

skelley19

I wonder if they have found a buyer for the quad yet? I am not sure I will make it up to the mountain on Friday to watch the towers get flown in but if I do I will look around to see if the old lift is still in the lower lot.

mtsnow100

Towers and crossarms are in

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1GLLDofRxL/

obienick

Any reason why Doppelmayr went with square foundations? Lately on liftline trails they’ve exclusively used circles that “hug” the bottom flange tightly.

skelley19

Hmm that is a good question on the footings. I know they demolished the old footings including a couple from the old triple that were still present so not sure why they wouldn't go with circular ones to minimize the footprint on the new lift.

DrJeff

obienick;c-70103 wroteAny reason why Doppelmayr went with square foundations? Lately on liftline trails they’ve exclusively used circles that “hug” the bottom flange tightly.

Have they back filled around the footings yet? I know that when Dopp installed the 2 high speeds at Mount Snow 3 years ago (I think it was 3 years ago now), that the tower footings had a sqaure base, with a bit of a round center that the tower went on, and then once they back filled around the base, all you saw, and current see in the much smaller surface area cylindrical part of the footing above ground??

mtsnow100

Top terminal is done and the bottom just needs the coverings put on. Chair barn has not gone past a foundation yet. Dec is projected opening.

skelley19

The new summit lift has now been delayed for the second time. I believe the original date was 12/6 and then they shifted to 12/19 a couple weeks ago. Yesterday they posted a video of Jeff Crowley apologizing and saying that the hope is that Christmas break it will be running with a Grand Opening party on January 8th. Hopefully they get it up and running soon as a small mountain skis MUCH smaller without its summit.

On a better note, they have been crushing the snowmaking during this cold snap and plan to open the Mass Pike Trails this weekend which will allow access to the lower portion of all of the summit trails. With the weather forecast, looks like they should be able to have everything but the natural Ropers Road trail open from top to bottom when the new lift is ready to spin. I forgot to get a pic but the whales on Hitchcok (park trail) were very impressive yesterday.