We are looking at the construction site of the new Snowghost Express six-person chairlift and up the lift line. To the right you can see the existing Ridge Rocket chairlift. View the new construction web cam here.
There is a dusting of snow on the mountain and the Leitner- Poma crew are busy. They are preparing to pull the wire rope around for splicing. They have installed the straw line which will be used to pull the haul rope up to the unload and back down to the bottom where it will be spliced. A splicer will be brought in especially for this as this is very specialized task. The communications lines are also being strung from tower to tower. See the straw line and com lines in photos cable1 and 2.
The electricians are wiring the panels for the drive, see wiring photo.
The electric drive, standby diesel drive, the evacuation diesel drive and bullwheel assembly arrived today and was hoisted into place by a 210 ton crane. This assembly is worth $1 million dollars all by itself and weighs 70 tons. See the drive photos.
The tower installation was completed as planned and we are now preparing to string the tow line. Check out this article and footage of the tower installation by Kelly Hayes from Castanet.
Things are starting to move fast. If you check the photos, 1st towers, you can see that the first 3 towers have been installed by crane. The rest of the towers have had the ladders installed and the top assemblies are ready to go. They are staged in the Ridge parking lot ready for the helicopter which should be flying tomorrow, October 3rd, weather permitting. See tower photos 1-3.
The bottom lift shack is in place; see bottom lift shack photo.
The haul rope arrived today and has been put in position by crane for pulling once the towers and top assemblies are in place; see haul rope photos 1-9.
The drive panel is being put into position in the bottom lift shack. The drive panel contains all the lift and motor controls; see panel photos 1-4.
Fall is in the air and work is moving forward as fast as the parts deliveries and weather will allow. The top station is now assembled and you can see pictures of the crane putting the assemblies together. The crane and all the assemblies had to be driven up to top of the Ridge, a very slow trip. Also included are some photos of the summer grooming on the Ridge area particularly Exhibition.
Things are starting to move faster as the summer draws to a close. Everything is on scheduled for a December 9 Grand Opening. The load or drive station is being assembled right now and it’s well on its way to completion. As you can see in the photos a crane is used to lift the prebuilt sections into place and then they are bolted together. Once the outer housing is assembled the carriage containing the motor and bull wheel can lowered in and the roof put on.
The construction crew are "flying concrete" today! It is quite exciting to see the K-Max helicopter flying around the new lift site with the concrete bucket in tow. Fortunately, the skies are clear and the winds are light allowing the crew members to get the concrete poured into the forms. These concrete foundations will support and anchor the lift towers. You will notice some of the challenging locations of the lift towers in these photos. This is why we need to use a helicopter to get concrete to these areas. The final photo from today is a movie clip; sorry no audio in this clip.
As the new parts and systems continue to roll in, construction has begun on the location of the bottom loading station. From this loading station passengers will be quickly, quietly and safely taken to the top under 7 minutes which means less time standing in lines and more time out enjoying the slopes. This photo also provides us with a great look at the location of the six passenger chair and to where exactly it will be with the existing Ridge Rocket chair.
As you can see from the photos below, the parts for the new Snow Ghost Express are coming in very quickly. The first photo is the rear part of the assembly for both the Top and Bottom loading stations. In the second photo you can see the new bullwheel for the top station, this is used as the main bullwheel which the cable runs around. The last photo shows the progress being made on the excavation for the bottom loading station.
  
With a combination of the warmer weather, spring run off beginning to dry up and the ground not as saturated, excavation has now begun on the earth removal for the bottom loading station. Both stations have now been delivered.
“The re-contouring of the bottom station has now begun; this is a crucial step in the process that allows the bottom loading station to align with the existing Ridge Rocket Chair” say Mike St. Clair, Mountain Operations Manager.
     
After the delivery of the main assemblies the parts continue to roll in at a rapid speed. The photos below show the metal frames in the background that are used as the molds to set the concrete for foundation that the tower tubes are mounted onto.
In the foreground you can clearly see the blue Yokes that bolt the top and bottom of the stations.
   
More parts arrive for the Snow Ghost Express June 19th saw delivery of the main assemblies for the new Snow Ghost Express 6 passenger chair. These assemblies are the accelerators and decelerators for the top and bottom stations of the new lift. These parts slow the chairs down as they come into each station by taking the chair off the rope and then after loading they speed up the chair so that it can be placed back on the faster moving rope. These assemblies are put together in at Leitner-Poma’s main facility in Grand Junction, Colorado and shipped by truck to Big White Ski Resort. See assembly photos 1 through 7. This part is a roof contour for the drive station. See roof contour photo.
Leitner-Poma also set up an onsite office in the Happy Valley parking lot where they will do all the staging for the new lift. See Leitner-Poma office photo.
   
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