Nate Abbott, Mountain Maintenance Manager for the Eaglecrest Ski Area, fills plastic trash cans with about 200 pounds of water per can as they load-test the Ptarmigan Chairlift on Wednesday.
Cheyenne Lofton, of Anchor Electric, works on wiring under the bullring of the Black Bear chair at the Eaglecrest Ski Area on Wednesday.
Fifty-eight pairs of plastic trash cans each hold about 400 pounds of water as the Ptarmigan lift is load-tested Wednesday at the local ski hill. The chairlift is now running on electric power. Kirk Duncan, general manager, said the chairs then go through a series of breaking tests going up the mountain and again on descent. Each garbage can is corked at the bottom, Duncan said, so that when the chair goes around the bullwheel at the top of the lift, they can knock the cork out and release the water on three out of four chairs to simulate the light side of the lift, or the side that will have fewer bodies.
Story last updated at 10/30/2009 - 10:55 am
Eaglecrest now boasts a new lift for the upcoming ski and snowboard season that will provide easier access to what users have deemed some of the most popular terrain on the mountain.
Construction of the Black Bear chair lift has been finished, and, pending load-testing, will be ready for service within the next couple weeks. Additionally, the Ptarmigan chair has been upgraded to an electrical lift, and was load-tested Wednesday.
Eaglecrest general manager Kirk Duncan described the load testing process.
"We've got a heavy side and a light side, the heavy side being the side going up the hill that people will be sitting on," he said. "On the heavy side, we put a garbage can on each seat and fill each one with 200 pounds of water. So, each chair has four-hundred pounds, 110 percent more than designed capacity."
He said the chairs then go through a series of breaking tests going up the mountain and again on descent. Each garbage can is corked at the bottom, Duncan said, so that when the chair goes around the bullwheel at the top of the lift, they can knock the cork out and release the water on three out of four chairs to simulate the light side of the lift, or the side that will have fewer bodies.
While the lift has been upgraded to an electric motor, Duncan said they kept the two diesel motors in the event that the new motor fails for any reason.
"The unique thing about the Ptarmigan lift is that it's one of the few lifts in the world with three motors," he said. "So, if and when we lose AEL&P power, we can switch over to our main diesel motor which will run the lift at 100 percent, and we'll still be able to generate enough power to run the base area."
"If you're up here and the power goes out, the lodge still functions so you can still buy a cheeseburger or a lift ticket, and you can still use the telephone," he said.
Along with the Ptarmigan lift, Duncan said the Black Bear chair would also function under these circumstances because it is powered by a diesel generator.
Jeffra Clough, sales and marketing director at Eaglecrest, said the upgrade to the Ptarmigan lift and the construction of the Black Bear lift will be great for the area.
"I think all the upgrades going on make it a really exciting time at Eaglecrest," she said. "Converting the Ptarmigan lift to electrical power is going to make such a big difference in the base area. It will be substantially quieter, there will be less maintenance for the guys and it's just going to be great."
She said the users will definitely notice how much more quiet the lift will be, considering how noisy the area has been in the past. She said she is also happy about what the new chairlift will offer.
"Now, you'll be able to ride a chairlift to get to certain terrain where, before, there had to be a fair amount of hiking out to the east bowl to get there."
Duncan said the lines at Ptarmigan should be considerably smaller with the construction of the Black Bear chairlift.
"It's interesting, the Ptarmigan chairlift transports 820 people an hour, but the Black Bear chair transports 1200 people an hour," he said. "It's the same length of line, but the Black Bear chair has more towers in it, therefore the chair spacing can be six seconds versus nine seconds."
He also echoed Clough's thoughts regarding access to different terrain.
"It's actually easier to get to the west ridge from the Black Bear chair than it is from the Ptarmigan chairlift, and that's where people go on nice days for some world-class bowl skiing," he said. "It (the Black Bear chairlift) doesn't technically open any new terrain, it just makes existing terrain much easier to get to."
Duncan said there have also been times in the past when the east side of the mountain has gotten enough snow to open, but no other part of the mountain has enough. He said the Black Bear lift could potentially allow them to open earlier in the season, as well as provide a backup in case the Ptarmigan lift is out of order, which happened for three days over a weekend last season. Also, the Black Bear chairlift is not subject to the same wind profile as Ptarmigan, so the wind shouldn't affect it as much, he said.
Clough said the new lift will make the mountain more accessible to users, especially on weekends when they have their busiest days.
"I think this will spread people around the mountain and give people more variety of things to be able to ski and ride," she said. "Also, having the Black Bear lift, we'll have a couple of runs in the east bowl that will be groomed a little bit, so intermediate skiers who traditionally would not be able to access the east bowl will be able to enjoy some runs there.
"I think it will add to the versatility of our mountain."
• Matt Tynan can be reached at matthew.tynan@juneauempire.com.
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