Spruce Peak @ Sunday River falls over

Chuckstah

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“ski_it”><blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“Cannonball”>I assume Spruce Peak won’t be back up and running this season.  I don’t ski SR as much as I used, so I don’t exactly remember all of the routes. Doesn’t this present challenges for working your way across the mountain?  As well as the obvious loss of all that terrain. </blockquote>

Not really. You lose the tops of four trails and 2 other “trails”. Being a mid-mountain chair it did make it easier to get to Aurora, Oz & Jordan if you wanted to go down Vortex Double Black. But I recall it was a pretty busy chair as people luv the blues of Risky Business & American Express as they are short & sweet, having better snow being higher up, IMHO. IIRC you can still get over North Peak to A, Oz & J from Barker if you go down the green. Or you have to take the 2 North Peak chairs</blockquote>

You can indeed get from Barker across to Aurora via 3Mile Trail, but it is a long slog on natural snow and often not open.  You can also ski Easy Street from Barker to the chondola to access Aurora and beyond but this is also far from ideal.  For  consumer confidence, as well as navigation around the resort,  the lift should surely be replaced as soon as possible.  After riding Spruce the last two days it operated this year, and then this failure, I for one won’t ride the lift again until it’s replaced.   They need to take a long, hard look at the Locke chair as well.  It doesn’t instill confidence in me at all. 

obienick

Doesn’t 3 Mile dump you off too low?

Chuckstah

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“obienick”>Doesn’t 3 Mile dump you off too low?</blockquote>

No.  You can follow 3 mile to Second Mile to Sensation to Aurora, but it is not a fun run at all, and most of it relies on natural.

ski_it

I think you can get to Quantum Leap Double Black from behind the North Peak Lodge, but IIRC, it as you said a slog and a little up hill maybe? IDK been a long time.

Chuckstah

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“ski_it”>I think you can get to Quantum Leap Double Black from behind the North Peak Lodge, but IIRC, it as you said a slog and a little up hill maybe? IDK been a long time.</blockquote>

Yes,  you can get to Quantum Leap from near the NP lodge as well Paradigm, a blue,  Problem with Quantum Leap is that they rarely blow snow on it even though it has working pipes, and Paradigm gets skied off in an hour or two if it’s the only route open to the west.    

newpylong

You can also ski down to Sensation (green) to get down to the West - it has snowmaking as well.

If they don’t have Spruce I would think all 3 trails would get more attention.

TomWhite

CONCRETE GROUT FAILURE POSSIBLE CAUSE OF SUNDAY RIVER LIFT INCIDENT

AddThis Sharing Buttons

<p style=“margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);”>SAM Magazine—Newry, Maine, July 20, 2016—Investigators think they may have discovered why the upper terminal of the Spruce Peak Triple seemed to uproot from the ground at Sunday River on July 10.</p><p style=“margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);”>According to the resort, MountainGuard engineers said it appears that the concrete grout used to adhere steel reinforcement bars to the foundation of the terminal and the bedrock below failed. They plan to return to the resort tomorrow, July 21, to take core samples from the bedrock where concrete grout is present for further tests.</p><p style=“margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);”>No one saw the incident occur, and no one was injured.</p><p style=“margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);”>Investigators believe that, after the foundation of the terminal uprooted, the weight and tension of the haul rope pulled the terminal downhill. It tipped the bullwheel up 90 degrees. That allowed the haul rope to release, and many chairs to lower to the ground.</p><p style=“margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);”>Sunday River’s lift maintenance manager discovered the slack rope and lowered chairs on the evening of July 10. The resort, State of Maine Tramway Board, and MountainGuard insurance have been working to understand the cause of the incident since.</p><p style=“margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);”>On Monday, Sunday River was given permission by MountainGuard to de-tension the haul rope, which in turn lowered all remaining chairs on the Spruce Peak Triple. The site remains closed as a safety precaution during the ongoing investigation.</p><p style=“margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);”>Decisions on repairing or replacing the Spruce Peak Triple will depend on several factors, including the results of Sunday River and MountainGuard engineering reports. The resort said it intends to act as quickly as possible on whatever decision is made following the conclusion of the investigation.</p>

Peter

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“NJSnowmaker”>The chairlift has been condemned by the insurance company and will not be reinstalled. Already looking into replacements to be installed for this season</blockquote>

Source?

NJSnowmaker

All I can say is someone very reliable in the industry.

NewEnglandSkier13

They are reportedly working on strengthening the Locke Mountain Triple now.

DrJeff

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“NewEnglandSkier13” style=“font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;”>They are reportedly working on strengthening the Locke Mountain Triple now.</blockquote>

<font face=“Arial, Verdana”>Doing a little more than just strengthening it! An entirely new top terminal</font>

And Spruce is being replaced with a fixed grip, carpet loading new Doppelmayr triple

<font face=“Arial, Verdana”>http://sundayriver.com/winter/mountain-report</span></font><br/></div>

obienick

Press Release confirming grout failure:  http://sundayriver.com/media-center/press-releases/spruce-peak-replacement<div><br/></div><div>New lift will be 2 minutes faster.  </div>

$2.1M seems relatively cheap for how long that lift is (4300 ft) and how late in the season this is being ordered (see Mittersill Double price issue).  Is that what insurance would only pay so Dopp took whatever they could get?

<quote>During the replacement interim, Spruce Peak terrain will open as conditions allow and can be accessed by the Aurora Peak Quad to Borealis and Sirius trails.

</quote>

Sounds like they understand it won’t open anywhere close to on time.  

newpylong

I don’t get it, the incremental cost from Triple to Quad is peanuts. They must be very concerned with uphill/downhill capacity balance. Which is odd considering the other locations they’ve stuck quads there. Or, that’s what Doppel said has the highest chance of making it in this year.

obienick

If they were concerned with capacity (which they shouldn’t be, 2 wide cruisers, a mogul run and a green should easily eat a quad’s worth of people) they could just have a longer spacing between chairs.

Perhaps they are saving money by reusing the carpet and/or chairs? It’d explain the relatively low price.  As many problems Borvig chairs have faced of late, the actual chairs and grips have never been an issue and are supported by Ski Lift Parts/Partek/whatever they’re calling themselves now.  Sunday River also should have chairs left over from shortening North Peak Triple into Kachina Triple at Attitash and removal of South Ridge Triple to replace any dammaged in the collapse.

ME2VTskier

2.1 million for the new Triplehttp://www.sundayriver.com/media-center/press-releases/spruce-peak-replacment

zapada

"This fixed-grip triple chairlift from Doppelmayr, complete with a conveyor loading system, will get you from top to bottom a full two minutes faster, meaning you can ski Spruce Peak’s signature corduroy two minutes sooner than ever before."

But I thought we normally rode lifts from the bottom to the top when skiing? ;-)

NELSBEER

I’ve been visiting SR for a Ski Patrol S & T (ski and toboggan) training every winter for years. Spruce has been a favorite for the sled day due to its short lines and relatively open character (no maze to pull a tog through) and good blue/black trails. The lift ride did get a little long, especially on a cold day.

The slightly faster fixed grip sounds like a sensible choice for a pod that is well used but not drawing crowds.

TomWhite

I asked Peter at Liftblog if he could find out any details of the decision to replace with a new triple. Here’s his answer:

<cite class=“fn” style=“box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;”>PETER LANDSMAN</cite>August 24, 2016 / 10:02 pm

<p style=“box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.8em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;”>I asked the Boyne folks who were at Big Sky’s announcement today and a new carpet-load triple is what they thought was appropriate given the length and terrain.</p>

Chuckstah

Some new info and pics

www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=481

Chuckstah

double post

« Previous Page Next Page »