BEN'S BLOG

Wrap it up In the few days since we've closed for the season a ton of work has already gone into disassembling and removing the Quad, Triple, and Double to make way for construction to begin on the Voyageur Express Six.  First, crews gently lowered the Original Double's haul rope (wire cable that holds the chairs) onto 4x4s. The wood will protect the rope as it is reeled up over the ground keeping it in perfect condition so that it can be used to replace the current haul rope on the Bear Creek Double later this summer.  The Original Double's haul rope awaiting the final trip around the bull wheel. - 04/07/2023 Spooling up fifteen thousand pounds of cable stretched out over six thousand feet is no small task, so we enlisted the help of JT and his son Jake from Mountain Wire Rope Service. They came all the way from Pennsylvania with their custom-made spooling machine in tow to help us out. Once the spooling machine was set up, the splice was cut right at the marriage, and one

  Sunday, April 2nd was a bittersweet day. Many longtime skiers of the resort, including myself, took their final rides on the main double lift. As I took one last slow ride up the mountain, I couldn't help but notice the quiet, calming nature of the lift. Having carried skiers for 62 years, the machine feels as much a part of the mountain as the trees that shape the runs.  The energy of the day felt more like a memorial tribute than a fun day on the slopes as people came to pay their respects to the lift that was integral to so many of their great memories. At 4:27pm the original 1961 double chairlift carried its last passengers for the final time. Rita, a patroller on the mountain for 40 years called the last chair and rode up in front of Lee, the longtime operator of the lift, and his daughter who learned to ski on these slopes. I was lucky enough to capture the moment in the video above.  The very next day, work began to remove chairs from the lift, starting the long road to co