Straight talk on the North Ridge Express

[Orca]

The North Ridge Express (NRX) was down all day today, the Saturday of a holiday weekend.

It seems to me that the NRX is the leading candidate for least reliable lift in the galaxy. Each and every lift has problems at one time or another, but the NRX seems to have more problems at much greater frequency than all the other lifts at Sugarbush combined. So far, it seems that last year's Doppelmayr refurbishment of the lift hasn't improved things.

Does anyone know why the NRX is so fragile? Is there a design problem? Is it some sort of "lemon" model whose sisters all suffer from the same high rate of breakage? Is it potentially dangerous? What is the deal with that thing?

[win]

As soon as I know more I will update everyone. Yes. Very disappointing to all of us after the dollars we invested this summer.

[WWF-VT]

Is it going to run tomorrow? Lapping the GMX chair sucks.

[teleo]

You could have done exterminator to semi tough loops. Good snow in the am, but the wierdest loops I've ever done. Usually don't go to north if nrx is down.

[Benski]

They would have been better off without doing anything. Last year I don't remember it braking down after christmas.

[WWF-VT]

You could have done exterminator to semi tough loops. Good snow in the am, but the wierdest loops I've ever done. Usually don't go to north if nrx is down.

When its 10 below at the summit it's no fun riding the Summit Chair. The NRX gets you to more than 1700' of vertical with a lot of trail options in a quick ride. Did ride the Inverness chair and Semi Tough was great and a groomed Walts trail was a treat. It's just getting pretty pathetic to have the NRX on "wind" or "maintenance" hold more often then it's running. My son was already stuck on it for close to an hour this season and he is one of many people that is reluctant to even ride it.

[win]

Not sure it will run tomorrow. Need a part that we can't find locally so it will be shipped
overnight. Our team worked all day to isolate the issue. It seems that the -26 temperatures
may have caused stress on the motor. Motors are usually taken out, recoiled and baked
Every 8-10 years. This one was done 6 years ago, so it was not due. The work this summer
was replacing all the electronics. Dopplemayr still owes one additional upgrade but this did
not cause the issue today. Will know more tomorrow.

[Benski]

Need a part that we can't find locally so it will be shipped overnight.

It seems like this happens every time a lift brakes.

[Orca]

Thanks for the update, Win. Appreciate it and everyone knows you are working to restore it as soon as possible.

The intent of this thread is neither to fault Sugarbush operations nor complain about this incident. This incident is transitory. Rather, the thread asks the question of why the NRX seems to have such a persistent and unduly frequent incidence of breakdown. What is it about that particular lift that makes it so problematic? Does anyone know?

[HowieT2]

Frustrating. There was good skiing to be had at Mellon today. There's just no way to be efficient without the nrx.

[win]

An answer to Benski. You can not stock every single part for a lift. We have parts for those that are most likely to need to be replaced. Also, the work done this summer was essential. Les Otten had Dopplemayr move a Poma lift and neither wanted to be accountable for problems. Dopplemayr has now rebuilt the entire electrical system. There is a new drive, two new communication lines and a completely new electrical panel. They still owe us one final updgrade which will take about a day to complete. The problem yesterday was the lift could not get up to full speed, It could only get to about 75-80% speed. Basically our team traced everything down and at the end of the day found two blown fuses behind the panel. These are unique to this lift and these types of large industrial fuses almost never blow. WE have had one in twenty years on Gatehouse two years ago. Our concern is that the motor is running irregularly and may need to be sent out for recoiling and baked to seal it. If the new fuses blow we will now that is the issue. If not, perhaps the issues was caused by the very low temperatures yesterday, If it is the motor it will have to be taken down and send to Troy, New York. We have already spoken to them in case that is necessary. But it will be several days to get back. Once this is done we will have a new motor as well. I can not really add any more until we get the fuses in tomorrow when they arrive around midday but will update info then. Sorry to all you love to lap on NRX.

[Go Figure]

It's been 20 years since the lift has been moved and Les has been gone for 14, probably time to stop blaming him for problems around the resort. The NRX was a short lived offering from Poma and I would guess its sister lifts have been scrapped or were sold off to Russia prior to 08.

[win]

Not blaming just trying to give all the history and facts. The lift manufacturers do not agree with you on the life of this lift. With all the electrical upgrades and a repaired motor it is essentially a brand new lift. There is nothing wrong with the chairs nor the towers.

[win]

Here is an update, After further review of everything today and in consultation with Dopplemayr we are going to pull the motor in the morning and send it to Troy, NY for a rebuild which will take several days. Until it gets there and is examined we do not know how many days, but will keep everyone posted. While it might have run with the new fuses, we are concerned that we might have the same problem later in the season, so we would rather have it down now for a few days and all set for the balance of the season. We are also trying to get Dopplemayr to do their final upgrades next week too. Until Northridge is back all ME passholders may ski at LP if they wish. New Motor, new electronics, so we hope this is it and we will be blogging about other things.

[WWF-VT]

New Motor, new electronics, so we hope this is it and we will be blogging about other things.

Thanks for the update. I am sure that we all hope that this puts an end to issues with the NRX chair.

[Benski]

Could the engine be overworked. You guys did a nice job bringing increasing the lift but that extra force might be your problem.

[win]

We don't think so but that is why it is going out the shop in Troy, so it can be taken apart and fully examined.

[djd66]

How big is that engine that you can pull it out and throw it in the back of a pickup truck?

[HowieT2]

I gotta say, as frustrating as this is for us skiers, management must be pulling their hair out. Appreciate Win being at the bravo, and Adam cleaning snow off the chairs of heavens gate this morning. A new vh lift can't come soon enough..

Skiing was fantastic today. Much fun.

[win]

Don't know the exact weight but al least a few tons.

[dustyroads]

Good thing Win doesn't own an airline. Just kidding but I wonder how the the airlines stay in front of their maintenance issues.

[Dblshot]

huge budgets and tons of regulations. Probably the majority cost of the ticket.

[turgon]

Don't forget the massive government subsidies most American based airlines receive!

[HowieT2]

Don't forget the massive government subsidies most American based airlines receive!

they do but they also compete against foreign carriers who not only receive subsidies from their own governments, but also get financing from our government to buy planes from Boeing.

[djd66]

Win only has 3 "airplanes" loading passengers out of the base area - if one goes down he can't bring in another airplane. I'm just thankful we don't have to go through security before loading :) Funny thing is - My kids call the chair seat next to the towers the aisle seat and the outside seat the window seat - anything in between is the dreaded middle seat.

[gostan]

Win only has 3 "airplanes" loading passengers out of the base area - if one goes down he can't bring in another airplane. I'm just thankful we don't have to go through security before loading :) Funny thing is - My kids call the chair seat next to the towers the aisle seat and the outside seat the window seat - anything in between is the dreaded middle seat. You really cracked me up with this kids real life analogy. I just do not want the lift attendants to pass out seat bottoms, oxygen masks or rope to me while I am on the lift(s).

[Dblshot]

Win- any update on the motor? Looking back at the posts it got pulled on Sunday with an anticipated several day turnaround. Will the chair be running on Saturday? Thx.

[win]

It was a lot harder to get out that anticipated. It weighs around 8,000 pounds and not a lot of space to move around in the terminal. It was delivered to Troy yesterday and we should hear back from them today or tomorrow. I saw pictures and there were definitely a couple of pieces of copper that were bent or broken that likely caused some flames and arcing due to friction. That probably caused the motor to run irregularly and not up to speed. As soon as he hear how long it will take, I will let everyone know.

[Dblshot]

Bummer. Thanks for the honest update. Any chance it can run on diesel for the weekend?

[Go Figure]

Not blaming just trying to give all the history and facts. The lift manufacturers do not agree with you on the life of this lift. With all the electrical upgrades and a repaired motor it is essentially a brand new lift. There is nothing wrong with the chairs nor the towers.

The lift manufacturers are like the used car salesman telling you the 08 XC90 is a great buy, if you want to deal with constant issues it is. The NRX is not a used MDX, that's for sure. Now the Sunny D is out for several days, thought it was on the summer refurb list but I must be wrong.

1000 hp electric mtor http://www.reliance.com/pdf/motors/brochures/BR435.pdf What's the over under on how long this rebake lasts?


Skiing has been fun and quiet this week, nice to see some snowmaking patches in the problem areas.

[Orca]

Can you imagine what a disaster it would have been if Super Bravo had the breakdowns that NRX has had over the last few years? We are fortunate not to have lived that circumstance.

[angler]

Can you imagine what a disaster it would have been if Super Bravo had the breakdowns that NRX has had over the last few years? We are fortunate not to have lived that circumstance.

Someone would have gone postal.

[Dblshot]

At this rate I bet if it is running by next weekend we will be lucky. If they struggled to get it out it's not going back in any easier.

[Hawk]

Not exactly true. They know exactly what they are up against now. All the questions and issues were figured out on the way out. Going back in is way easier. Always.

[win]

Guys, my team knows exactly what they are doing. Installing the motor is much simpler than getting it out. Sunny=D needed a new bearing an d will be in today. That had nothing to do with the summer work. That is working fine. As I said I will update you when I have good information. I doubt it will be ready this weekend, though.

[ThinkSno]

Skied Mt. Ellen on Thursday for the $30 Thursday special. Was aware of the NRX problems, but found a few more. In addition to the Sunny D being down, at approximately 2:40pm the Inverness quad was closed & shut down. We inquired as to why, and were basically told "because."

[Dblshot]

Deflated shive wheels?

[Go Figure]

Skied Mt. Ellen on Thursday for the $30 Thursday special. Was aware of the NRX problems, but found a few more. In addition to the Sunny D being down, at approximately 2:40pm the Inverness quad was closed & shut down. We inquired as to why, and were basically told "because."

So 3 of 5 lifts down?

[WWF-VT]

Sunny D is delayed and might not run today. Hope everyone has fun riding the GMX to get to the park for the Burton event.

[win]

Ok. I was over at ME most of the morning. Sunny-D was delayed but opened at 12:42. As I said previously a bearing broke and we had to reorder a new one. They sent the wrong one so we sent someone down to Boston to get it yesterday evening. Work began first thing this am. By the way most of the Burton event is being held on the bottom part of the park so they were hiking until Sunny-D opened. I timed the line at both GMX and Summit while I was there and between 10 and noon the wait was under 5 minutes on a very busy day. Inverness on midweek is open to GMVS for racing only. Their race ended after 2pm and that is why it closed.

And, the skiing is good and is seems most people are having a great day.

[shadyjay]

I rode from 8am until about 3, starting at Lincoln. When the lines started getting bad, I took Slide Brook over to Ellen and rode there for several runs. While NRE being down was a bummer, it wasn't that bad. The GMX line moved pretty quick and Summit looked longer than it was. The snow was really nice and fast. Headed back over to Lincoln in the afternoon and was amazed that popular runs like Sleeper and Snowball->Fling had not yet been skied off after lunchtime.

All in all, a great day!

[MntMan4Bush]

So 3 of 5 lifts down?

That's not really an accurate representation. If I'm not mistaken Tommy's Toy was spinning and in tip top shape.

[Benski]

Why don't they use the gmvs lifts as backup. I understand not making the racers wait in line but I with both those lifts running there has to be extra space for the rest of us.

[ducky]

Those lifts are owned by GMVS, not Sugarbush. Plus you have to hike to get to the T-bar, then switch over to the Poma across the trail to get all the way up Inverness. Even then it only goes to top of Semi-Tough.

[brave fellow]

It's going to be nut shrinking cold this coming weekend. With the Super Bowl on Sunday, I'm hoping it's a pretty quiet weekend. This would assuage the log jam a bit if NRX is still down.

Working against my above theory is the blizzard striking the coast. It will make the filthy casuals get the itch to want to pizza down a mountain.

[Dblshot]

Any update on the lift? Will it be running this weekend?

[southvillager]

Thursday's snow report indicates that it may be open Sunday:

"Mt. Ellen is 100% open and accessible, although the North Ridge lift will be closed today and possibly tomorrow. We are working hard to have it running by Sunday. Mt. Ellen passholders may ski and ride at Lincoln Peak until North Ridge reopens. Stay tuned for updates."

[win]

Thursday's snow report indicates that it may be open Sunday:

"Mt. Ellen is 100% open and accessible, although the North Ridge lift will be closed today and possibly tomorrow. We are working hard to have it running by Sunday. Mt. Ellen passholders may ski and ride at Lincoln Peak until North Ridge reopens. Stay tuned for updates."

We are getting in back sometime tomorrow and will immediately bring it up and start the installation. Once it is in, which is a lot of work, we want to give it some run time. Scott and his crew are going to be working as fast as possible. Not sure it will be ready for Saturday, but we will try.

[win]

We are getting in back sometime tomorrow and will immediately bring it up and start the installation. Once it is in, which is a lot of work, we want to give it some run time. Scott and his crew are going to be working as fast as possible. Not sure it will be ready for Saturday, but we will try.

Report from Beaver Creek where the skiing is not as good as The Bush. NRX is open! :-)

[WWF-VT]

Glad to finally have the NRX chair running. Great skiing at Mt Ellen today.

[sbskier]

Glad to finally have the NRX chair running. Great skiing at Mt Ellen today.

It's nice they were able to open a chair that should have opened 7 weeks ago . In a 15 week season that's almost half the season ( just like the golf course not having all its holes open this season hole 16 was closed for 12 weeks ) now GMX is closed Please Get It Together PS should have bought north pass this year how about a little love for the people that bought a full man pass that haven't been able to ski the whole mtn btw castle rock was on maintenance delay also didn't open

[Dblshot]

The lift situation is déjà vu all over again. Get one fixed and two more are down. Things happen but his is a trend.

[win]

The lift situation is déjà vu all over again. Get one fixed and two more are down. Things happen but his is a trend.

I responded earlier under another post but will repeat here. The PLC in GMX had a programming bug. This has to
be done by the lift manufacturer, Poma. They were working on a lift at a nearby ski resort that had broken
Down and could not get here until this morning. Inverness does give you access to the entire
Mountain with NRX and Summit running.

At LP Castlerock was down until 1:43 today. This was weather caused. Tower 10 was misaligned due to the
cold and wind. Not easy work in the cold snd snow. After it was fixed all the sheaves downhill of it had to be adjusted. The recent cold weather
takes a toll on both lifts and our staff who are working hard to make everything run smoothly.

Also let me correct a fact. NRX is a key lift but GMX and Summit allow access to all terrain at ME.

[Scotch Mist]

Also let me correct a fact. NRX is a key lift but GMX and Summit allow access to all terrain at ME.

Today Inverness was a "key" lift, and you know what, it worked out great!!!!!

Good thing it was available. There's actually some pretty good skiing there, especially when no one is around.

Oh yeah, it does give access to NRX. Who knew?

I was bit disappointed that the summit was on "win hold" but that's OK it led us to other good things down below.

Mt Ellen, North, Glen Ellen, whatever, is a great place!!!! For those who have an issue with CRP I'm sure Jim and Bill would appreciate the business.

That all being said I greatly appreciate that Mt Ellen pass holders were given access to Lincoln peak during the NRX shut down. I took advantage of it this Saturday and Sunday. While it was a bit brisk out, skiing was great and I was able to get a nice warm scotch and a beer from Shawn and Rich without delay.

Yeah Baby!!!

[Hovercraft]

Not much you can do about mother nature. I think Sugarbush gets a lot of heat around lifts because its been an ongoing problem for a while. So even though you are trying to change that ,when they do break down the past influences the present. On the Summit chair you are correct that it allows access to all terrain and with that being said it is a slow ride to China for a very, very short run.

[sbskier]

GMX down again keep up the good work lift maintenance

[MntMan4Bush]

Also let me correct a fact. NRX is a key lift but GMX and Summit allow access to all terrain at ME.

I get that you're frustrated and things are piling on, but come on. The same could then be said about Super Bravo. It's a key lift, but not critical. You could spin Valley Double and access all the terrain through a long reverse traverse to HG. But no one would say that because it's silly. When NRX is down Ellen skis small. Upper FIS and Black Diamond are great runs, but short and then essentially a run out after. Tumbler, Hammerhead, etc are great runs, but then a run out. NRX allows you to ski sustained vertical and really good terrain end to end without a run out and changes how Ellen skis considerably. It being down and the problems that have plagued it for the years have been a serious hit on the ski-ability of the mountain. I know people will argue, but it's true. Doesn't mean I won't ski it without NRX, it just means it will be limited. Ellen pass holders may say all the better for them to have less people, but let's be honest with each other.

I get and appreciate that you guys are working on the lifts. It is visible through the posts here at least and no doubt your teams are working hard and through some really cold temps. To them a big thank you. The issue is that it was allowed to get to this stage. NRX was having issues for years. It makes the rest of us wonder about the lift maintenance program of the past for all lifts especially following last year. So while you guys may be working your butts off to make up for sins of times past it's hard for us to the give the benefit of the doubt when a lift goes down. So the recent weather related closures to include wind holds get an initial reaction of frustration though it's probably not fair of us to do so in normal circumstances. You have to earn that trust back I guess. I mean I've been on the lift a few times when it stopped and people started complaining and it was probably due to someone needing help loading/unloading due to the time down, but the initial stoppage got groans and gripes.

If you can get through a season with no significant outages I think things will turn around, but until then I think posts like the one you're responding to will be the norm.

[Hovercraft]

I get that you're frustrated and things are piling on, but come on. The same could then be said about Super Bravo. It's a key lift, but not critical. You could spin Valley Double and access all the terrain through a long reverse traverse to HG. But no one would say that because it's silly. When NRX is down Ellen skis small. Upper FIS and Black Diamond are great runs, but short and then essentially a run out after. Tumbler, Hammerhead, etc are great runs, but then a run out. NRX allows you to ski sustained vertical and really good terrain end to end without a run out and changes how Ellen skis considerably. It being down and the problems that have plagued it for the years have been a serious hit on the ski-ability of the mountain. I know people will argue, but it's true. Doesn't mean I won't ski it without NRX, it just means it will be limited. Ellen pass holders may say all the better for them to have less people, but let's be honest with each other.

I get and appreciate that you guys are working on the lifts. It is visible through the posts here at least and no doubt your teams are working hard and through some really cold temps. To them a big thank you. The issue is that it was allowed to get to this stage. NRX was having issues for years. It makes the rest of us wonder about the lift maintenance program of the past for all lifts especially following last year. So while you guys may be working your butts off to make up for sins of times past it's hard for us to the give the benefit of the doubt when a lift goes down. So the recent weather related closures to include wind holds get an initial reaction of frustration though it's probably not fair of us to do so in normal circumstances. You have to earn that trust back I guess. I mean I've been on the lift a few times when it stopped and people started complaining and it was probably due to someone needing help loading/unloading due to the time down, but the initial stoppage got groans and gripes.

If you can get through a season with no significant outages I think things will turn around, but until then I think posts like the one you're responding to will be the norm.

Well said, also compared to other mountains in the area there are more lift issues here. What are they doing differently since they face the same weather conditions as Sugarbush?

[HowieT2]

I get that you're frustrated and things are piling on, but come on. The same could then be said about Super Bravo. It's a key lift, but not critical. You could spin Valley Double and access all the terrain through a long reverse traverse to HG. But no one would say that because it's silly. When NRX is down Ellen skis small. Upper FIS and Black Diamond are great runs, but short and then essentially a run out after. Tumbler, Hammerhead, etc are great runs, but then a run out. NRX allows you to ski sustained vertical and really good terrain end to end without a run out and changes how Ellen skis considerably. It being down and the problems that have plagued it for the years have been a serious hit on the ski-ability of the mountain. I know people will argue, but it's true. Doesn't mean I won't ski it without NRX, it just means it will be limited. Ellen pass holders may say all the better for them to have less people, but let's be honest with each other.

I get and appreciate that you guys are working on the lifts. It is visible through the posts here at least and no doubt your teams are working hard and through some really cold temps. To them a big thank you. The issue is that it was allowed to get to this stage. NRX was having issues for years. It makes the rest of us wonder about the lift maintenance program of the past for all lifts especially following last year. So while you guys may be working your butts off to make up for sins of times past it's hard for us to the give the benefit of the doubt when a lift goes down. So the recent weather related closures to include wind holds get an initial reaction of frustration though it's probably not fair of us to do so in normal circumstances. You have to earn that trust back I guess. I mean I've been on the lift a few times when it stopped and people started complaining and it was probably due to someone needing help loading/unloading due to the time down, but the initial stoppage got groans and gripes.

If you can get through a season with no significant outages I think things will turn around, but until then I think posts like the one you're responding to will be the norm.

from my perspective, the lift issues started (obviously there are always issues with lifts at all mtns, but I mean things got really bad) when they lost all those lift mechanics before last season. Seems that since then, every time there is a problem, its a major problem and the lift is out of service for days if not weeks. I understand management can't say in a public forum that the lift mechanic team is incompetent and the problems are a result of that. But from where I sit, without any inside knowledge, that's what it looks like to me. I mean, they put in the effort and money over the offseason to get the lifts operating reliably. they overhauled the lifts, to have these kind of problems continuing, there must be a problem with the people operating them. and I'm not saying anyone isn't working hard, caring, fighting the temperatures or that they arent really nice people. They just arent getting the job done. I may be totally wrong about this, but that's my 2 cents.

[Hawk]

What you are saying is something that is being echoed around the valley and from current and past employees. True or false it is the perception.

[arc1]

So in essence, our ski area is telling us the lifts are constantly screwed up because it's cold and snowy. On boy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Go Figure]

"North Lynx is closed for today due to high winds. Green Mountain Express will likely be delayed this morning, but should run at full speed when it opens."

From the 6:30 am report. Am I the only one who thinks something is amiss with NL, It was windy yesterday, but quite possibly broken as well. The NRX troubles are no surprise, remember the issues it had when it was first installed.

[ducky]

The North Lynx has been running fine all week. It was very windy in places yesterday; for example, GMX very windy, Summit not. Just wondering, were you here or just reading the report and speculating? North Ridge was running fine all day but GMX was waiting for parts and running slower and I saw one chair needed walking around the top wheel.


"North Lynx is closed for today due to high winds. Green Mountain Express will likely be delayed this morning, but should run at full speed when it opens."

From the 6:30 am report. Am I the only one who thinks something is amiss with NL, It was windy yesterday, but quite possibly broken as well. The NRX troubles are no surprise, remember the issues it had when it was first installed.

[shadyjay]

"North Lynx is closed for today due to high winds. Green Mountain Express will likely be delayed this morning, but should run at full speed when it opens."

From the 6:30 am report. Am I the only one who thinks something is amiss with NL, It was windy yesterday, but quite possibly broken as well. The NRX troubles are no surprise, remember the issues it had when it was first installed.

North Lynx has been running good all season (knock on wood). It's closure yesterday was due to wind. For a while, Heaven's Gate was also on windhold, but it reopened. Usually in a wind hold situation on an upper mountain lift, it will be "held onto" until around 1pm, then a decision is made whether or not to hold out hope for the wind to die down, or close it for the day. In the case of Slide Brook, some days it is closed right off the bat due to the temps. It doesn't run if the temps are below + 5 F. If temps aren't forecasted to get that high at mid, it is oftentimes closed early in the day.

Rode "NRE" several times yesterday and it ran fine... no problems. GMX was running on slow but it is still a faster speed than Summit and the old "slug". And luckily, I only had to ride it once. Given how good Semi-Tough was, I would've ridden it again if it was running "at speed", but there was plenty of other stuff that was good.

[win]

I appreciate the passion and support of many of you but not the continued cynicism of some of you, so this will be my last lift comment for the season. ALmost all of the lifts have been running well this season, I explained what happened with NRX. It seems that Murphy's Law was in play with GMX. We had an input card fail and needed Poma to reprogram it once a new one arrived. We did get permission to run it at half speed once the problem was diagnosed because it is still faster than Inverness at that speed. As you all know Inverness gets you to NRX, so the entire mountain iwas accessible. GMX was delayed yesterday morning so Poma could could do the reprogramming that morning. They were not available the evening before after the card arrived. We opened Inverness until that was completed. This type of thing happens. It is not foreseeable or preventable. It is bad luck it occurred on the day NRX was running again and that Poma was stuck fixing a lift at another resort so could not get here as soon as we would have liked.

As someone said, I appreciate why evereyone is so sensistive to eery single stop, but the proof will be in the pudding from here out.

My final word is this, all the investments we made this summer are paying off. We have the best Head Mechanic we have had since buying the resort, and he has a good and competent team who want nothing more than to keep every lift running all the time. But lifts are complicated electrical and mechanical machines and yes, weather will impact all lifts at all resorts at times. These guys climb towers in below zero weather to repair a wire, chip ice, replace a sheave wheel, etc. I for one appreciate all that they do.

[gostan]

Win

We all know that the nature of all blogs today, whether they are ski blogs or not is to bitch and moan about everything. Sometimes enough is enough for sure. I imagine that some folks here may go into deep withdrawal without your very informational lift(s) update fixes and the other mountain information that you disseminate to us. I appreciate them and hope that you do elect to keep information flowing.

On another note, I participate in a number of blogs relating to our 16.5 mile short line railroad enterprise. Imagine fielding Q&A from abutters who claim they were advised that the railroad would never run. I would gladly change places with you.

[win]

Stan, Will do! Thanks.

[sbskier]

Mark this date 2/8/15 first day all lifts at Sugarbush did not have a major problem good work TEAM

[Benski]

I saw on the mobile app north ridge down again.

[southvillager]

SUGARBUSH'S DAILY SNOW REPORT

Slide Brook closed for the day. North Lynx is closed for the day due to wind. NR is temporarily closed for maint.
Today's Snow Report

Saturday, February 21st, 2015
1:45 PM

[Orca]

From a normally reliable source, I have the following to report: "Win is going to pour blood from a live chicken on NRX in hopes of getting it running again." Thanks, N---.

[HowieT2]

I got two runs on the nrx before it went down in the morning. They had to switch the generator on and run it out. Saw it was running again later but by the time I made it there, it was shut down.
Skiing was awesome.

[sbskier]

I started at south yesterday things were on win hold so I took the slidebrook exp to North got there took the north ridge got stuck for 1/2 hr in the wind and cold temps at least we didn't have to evacuate but it opened again and I got stuck again another 20 min off load THANKS

[HowieT2]

ouch!
Did you get some kind of a voucher? if you did, my daughter was one of those handing them out. She said one guy was super pissed, got off the lift and was yelling at her. She was like, hey man, I'm 14 years old, what do you want from me.

[win]

ouch!
Did you get some kind of a voucher? if you did, my daughter was one of those handing them out. She said one guy was super pissed, got off the lift and was yelling at her. She was like, hey man, I'm 14 years old, what do you want from me.

Here's what happened. An electrical fault tripped the E-Brake and we could not get a reset so had to use
The auxiliary diesel to clear the lift. It was in the new drive and not apparent what caused it. Calling Dopplemayr
they thought it might have overheated given the torque of a full lift and wind. It reset when empty and we
reloaded, ran two revolutions with some stops. No problem so we opened it. Same thing happened. With
overheating ruled out Dopplemayr suggested that the electrical pattern maximum might be set to low. We checked
What they had set it out and they told up to increase it as that would still be well within the designed safety tolerance. We did
and reopened. Our Head of Lift Msintenance sat with the lift for a few hours Sunday so that seems to
have been the problem. Hopefully we don't need the chicken blood.

[jwt]

Here's what happened. An electrical fault tripped the E-Brake and we could not get a reset so had to use
The auxiliary diesel to clear the lift. It was in the new drive and not apparent what caused it. Calling Dopplemayr
they thought it might have overheated given the torque of a full lift and wind. It reset when empty and we
reloaded, ran two revolutions with some stops. No problem so we opened it. Same thing happened. With
overheating ruled out Dopplemayr suggested that the electrical pattern maximum might be set to low. We checked
What they had set it out and they told up to increase it as that would still be well within the designed safety tolerance. We did
and reopened. Our Head of Lift Msintenance sat with the lift for a few hours Sunday so that seems to
have been the problem. Hopefully we don't need the chicken blood.

It's like owning the older but you-know-it-well car, having it completely restored, then having it break down on the freeway at the start of a cross-country trip! Gotta be happening to other areas, they just don't have active forums to display the pain like the Bushies do. And sure, they don't have the limited # of lifts up a long vertical so it is painful for the paying customer.

Not like they aren't trying. Of course my business consultant would say ' effort that doesn't have positive results are nothing more than fleeting effort.' Can't take that to the bank, still I empathize with the company trying to run the place.

[sbskier]

Excuses Excuses 10 weeks into a 15 week season and problems still exist are they just not going to fix the lift and we have the problem again next year ?

[ThinkSno]

This past weekend some friends I have not skied with in 8-9 years were at Mount Snow, so I joined them. Having Sugarbush as my home mountain, I've grown accustomed to its issues, but Mount Snow certainly opened my eyes. The lifts at Mount Snow are terrible! There is an overabundance of fixed grip triple chairs which stop constantly-- multiple times on every ride. One ride we spent close to 30 minutes hanging & not moving. It literally took us 2.5 hours to get from one side of the mountain to the other. Even their detachable 6-pack bubble chair was stopping, and when that stops, its not fun to be on it bouncing around.

I don't know if its an aging infrastructure, or just the abundance of beginner/intermediate skiers at Mount Snow who don't pay attention, but the overall experience definitely made me thankful for all the hard work Sugarbush does to give its customers a quality experience.

[cdskier]

SUGARBUSH'S DAILY SNOW REPORT

Slide Brook closed for the day. North Lynx is closed for the day due to wind. NR is temporarily closed for maint.
Today's Snow Report

Saturday, February 21st, 2015
1:45 PM

Slidebrook was closed due to wind as well. And I can personally say that closing it was the right call. I offloaded from SB on the LP side a couple minutes after they decided to stop letting people on SB. That ride from ME to LP was pretty crazy with the wind. The chairs were definitely rocking quite a bit at several points along the line (particularly within the last 10-15 towers on the LP side).

[sbskier]

North ridge down again today

[MntMan4Bush]

http://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/59780473.jpg

[HowieT2]

Could be worse.

http://www.reuters.com/video/2015/03/06/hundreds-of-skiers-rescued-from-cable-ca?videoId=363407464&videoChannel=2602&channelName=Most+Popular

[ducky]

Skiing is good and little to gripe about but here goes anyway as nobody else is chiming in lately.

Nothing wrong with the NRX lift but mildly disappointing to see a full corral and most every chair going up with 2-3 people (pet peeve). Nobody managing the lines on a busy Sat while lifties monitor from the shacks. Same for Summit. (it could actually Be Better - improved anyway)

Also, and this won't bother the weekend skiers, but SB has stopped having a singles line during the week. While the wait is not long, maybe 6-7 chairs usually, you can no longer ski up and join a chair of 1-2-3 at the front (and meet new people). Must be too much work, or deemed unnecessary to set up those extra gates everyday and reach over to scan a pass.

[sbskier]

And when super bravo went down on Friday gatehouse corral was all screwed up because of no singles line

[Hawk]

Been skiing at Big Sky with a bunch of Sugarbush people. Going to be totally spoiled. Worst line all week was the tram and that was 15 min. That place is seriously awesome. Lots of very steep terrain and great tree skiing. Didn't really snow a lot but still have great conditions. If you haven't gone you should.

[HowieT2]

Conditions were fantastic this weekend. Skied Mellon on Saturday and there was plenty of fresh. Did laps on the nrx. Felt really good not to be so cold.

[sbskier]

Castle rock chair 102 days today Northridge 32

[Benski]

I think the castlerock opened before mt Ellen.

[Benski]

North ridge currently on maintenance delay.

[Benski]

North ridge opened at 10:30. Black diamond was amazing and fis was great so I did four laps there. The only problem with north ridge being closed was i had to do my 4 summit laps in a row and there was actually a line.