Conveyor Lifts Coming to America
At least two three ski areas in North America are introducing a conveyor load lift this season: Boyne Mountain, in Michigan, is installing one. Okemo (Vermont) is introducing one, too as is, Mount Snow, also in Vermont.
No, this isn’t your belt system on the bunny hill that starts at point A and ends at point 5 100 feet later. This is a conveyor merged with a regular chair. The following video, from Mt. Snow, illustrates how it works.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J5cTb9zKeU]
No more skating to get to the lift–at least, no more skating after you’ve gotten to the place where the conveyor starts.
I would guess that the advantages of such a system are this: 1. No more jostling around of skiers and riders so close to the lift; 2. Everyone who ride on the same chair gets to the chair at the same time–no wondering whether Joe is going to make it; 3. No more uncertainty of where to stop and wait for the chair, since the lift can be positioned appropriately.
(Hat tip to Martin Griff).
November 25, 2008 @ 12:49 am
Haha! Is that really necessary? 😉
November 25, 2008 @ 9:32 am
I’m not sure what’s so amusing about it. Many beginners have trouble with the lifts. If something like this makes them more comfortable with the on-mountain experience, I say “go for it.”
And for the rest of us, a little stretch of being lazy (letting a belt take you the final 10 feet to the chair) isn’t fatal.
November 27, 2008 @ 1:09 am
Sorry, I didn’t mean to come off as condescending. It does seem like something that is expensive but I could see it being useful on the more beginner areas of the mountains.
November 27, 2008 @ 9:08 pm
I think it would be even more useful for the top of the lift, since dismounting the lift is the part of using the lift that freaks out some people.