Wacky new ski lift

Richard Henry wrote:

"lal_truckee" wrote in message
...

Olaf Timandahaff wrote:


On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 15:28:13 -0400, Walt
wrote:



So I'm nosing around looking for candidate resorts for the first trip of
the season, and I come across this:

http://www.orford.com/Anglais/framenewsEn.html

It's a hybrid gondola, where eight passenger gondolas alternate with six
passenger chairs on the same lift. Weird. I wonder if TCS knows about
this?


I can't see where the advantage is in having both.
I didn't see a manufacturer on their site either.

Maybe they went broke after buying only a few gondolas, and bought a
bunch of used 6-pak chairs to fill in the cable?

Looks pretty silly to me.


Who decides which person rides which device? Are there separate lines for
the chairs and gondolas? I imagine the gondola seats would be more
expensive, especially on cold days.

"Just one moment, attendant. I'm wating for an indoor seat."

Can anybody do that in French?

Vous payez le maitre d'chaise a $20? Do I win?
Actually, the site says patrons wait in two lines - you pick.

"bdubya" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 17:15:16 -0400, Walt
wrote:

Richard Henry wrote:

http://www.orford.com/Anglais/framenewsEn.html

It's a hybrid gondola, where eight passenger gondolas alternate
with six
passenger chairs on the same lift. Weird. I wonder if TCS knows
about
this?

Who decides which person rides which device? Are there separate lines
for
the chairs and gondolas? I imagine the gondola seats would be more
expensive, especially on cold days.


Two separate lines. Pick the one you want. I'll bet the chair line is
pretty short in January....

Great; that'll separate the real skiers from the wusses.

You spoiled Utah skier! Spend a winter in Vt. or Quebec. I skied one day
at Jay Peak, not far from Mt. Orford, when we all went in to the lodge to
thaw out our frostbite between runs. And no one was leaving early (we came
with the HS ski club on a bus).

Wombat wrote:
Mammoth was considering one of these hyrbrids for Juniper
Springs a few years ago. But Mammoth's would have used 6-passenger
chairs during the day and small 4 passenger gondolas during the
evening and in summer for transport only (no skis) to/from a
mountaintop restaurant. The small gondolas would have shuffled off to
a side rail during the day. They were calling it a "chondola".

Actually, they have been doing this at Thredbo for years. Normal chairs in
the day, then they park them in the shed and load little gondola cars in the
evening to take people up to the mountaintop restaurant (Eagles Nest).

ant

This would have to be the most stupid idea I have ever heard of..

Can anyone think of an advantage to this? How the hell would the unloading
platform look? You'd have to have two different dismounting points..

"Walt" wrote in message
...

So I'm nosing around looking for candidate resorts for the first trip of
the season, and I come across this:

http://www.orford.com/Anglais/framenewsEn.html

It's a hybrid gondola, where eight passenger gondolas alternate with six
passenger chairs on the same lift. Weird. I wonder if TCS knows about
this?


--
//-Walt
//
// The Volkl Conspiracy

InMyTree wrote:

This would have to be the most stupid idea I have ever heard of..

Yeah. They should have added T-bars and Poma platters too (c:

Can anyone think of an advantage to this?

Yeah. It allows you to pick your conveyance of choice.

Since it's not that big of a mountain, (1800') it's barely worth it to
take your skis off and put them back on again for each run. OTOH, it
gets beastly cold up there north of Vermont, so an enclosed gondola has
it's advantages.

Having gondolas available means they can do the restaurant thing in the
evening (although I don't know that they do) and the sightseeing tours
in the off season. Chairs allow the Real Skiers (TM) to do laps without
having to slow down to take their skis off and put them back on.

And if it doesn't work (I think this season is the first time it's being
tried) they can convert it to 100% chairs or gondolas by buying half a
rope's worth of devices.

Most likely it was the outcome of a long and tedious committee
process...

--
//-Walt
//
// The Volkl Conspiracy

Walt wrote:

Richard Henry wrote:

http://www.orford.com/Anglais/framenewsEn.html

It's a hybrid gondola, where eight passenger gondolas alternate with six
passenger chairs on the same lift. Weird. I wonder if TCS knows about
this?

Who decides which person rides which device? Are there separate lines for
the chairs and gondolas? I imagine the gondola seats would be more
expensive, especially on cold days.


Two separate lines. Pick the one you want. I'll bet the chair line is
pretty short in January....


Ah Mt Orford, The place we arrived in January where the garbage can full of
beer was taken off our ski club bus first to allow the people to depart.

As the last person got off we huddled around the can in amazement - the
layer of water on top froze solid in that short period. No one had ever
seen this before.

Next on the lowest beginners lift it was so cold I got off at midstation
and noticed frostbite forming on my cheek. Coldest day ever ! Still air
temperature was about where the C and F scales cross (-40).

We abandoned the beer in search of a hot furnace :-(


John in MD

John Webb wrote:

Ah Mt Orford, The place we arrived in January where the garbage can full of
beer was taken off our ski club bus first to allow the people to depart.

As the last person got off we huddled around the can in amazement - the
layer of water on top froze solid in that short period. No one had ever
seen this before.

Next on the lowest beginners lift it was so cold I got off at midstation
and noticed frostbite forming on my cheek. Coldest day ever ! Still air
temperature was about where the C and F scales cross (-40).

Other than the remarkable cold, what did you think of the place?
skiing? Lodgings? Food, anything else?

I'm thinking about going there in December...any data gratefully
acknowleged...


--
//-Walt
//
// The Volkl Conspiracy

Walt wrote:

Alan Baker wrote:

What happens when you get off the chair do you fall over the concrete rail
track for the gondolas?

The original pic doesn't show a track for the gondolas...

It sounds to me like some field research is in order.

Anyone who'd like to contribute the WALT Foundation for Ski Lift Reserch
will be cheerfully supplied with a certificate of appreciation
semi-suitable for framing.


To hell with the certificate. !
How much free beer do we get. !

John in MD

John Webb wrote:
Walt wrote:

Anyone who'd like to contribute the WALT Foundation for Ski Lift Reserch
will be cheerfully supplied with a certificate of appreciation
semi-suitable for framing.


To hell with the certificate. !
How much free beer do we get. !

One "free" beer for each contribution of $10.

Bonus deal: A "free" sixpack for each contribution of $50.

In all seroinsness, though, I'm very interested in what you thought of
Orford. Did you make it to any of the other nearby resorts while you
were there?

--
//-Walt
//
// The Volkl Conspiracy

John Webb wrote:
To hell with the certificate. !
How much free beer do we get. !

You abandoned your beer, you don't deserve any more.
No beer for you.

ant