TETON VILLAGE, Wyo. — Installation of a brand-new, high-speed quad to replace the original Sublette chairlift at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) is on track to be completed ahead of schedule, expected to be ready in November.
On Thursday, Sept. 26, Tim Mason, JHMR Vice President of Operations, shared with Buckrail that the original Sublette chair was constructed in 1987, making it the oldest lift at the resort.
“This is the last chair from the Kemmerer family era,” Mason said. “This is a big landmark because everything has been replaced.”
Mason said that the 37-year-old lift towers and working components were sold to the Maverick Mountain Resort, located near Dillon, Montana. All of the lift’s chairs were auctioned off locally. Twenty percent of the proceeds from the sale of the chairs were donated to Teton Adaptive Sports.
“We are not in the market of making a lot of money off of the old Sublette,” Mason said. “It was an old lift and sooner or later they retire.”
According to Mason, JHMR’s mountain project crew, Alpine Cable and contractors from Leitner-Poma have been working hard to complete the new Sublette project. On Wednesday, Sept. 25, a helicopter, courtesy of Alpine Cable, flew 15 lift towers above the steep, rocky terrain at JHMR for installation. During the next construction phase, a helicopter will transport a lead-line up over the towers for its attachment to the main haul-rope that all of the lift chairs will sit on.
In approximately two weeks, a communications line, which carries an electric signal to each tower’s operating circuitry, will be attached along the base of each tower. The “comm line” is also a phone line between the base, summit and mountain dispatch.
The lift will suspend 72 chairs along the haul-rope, significantly fewer than the 114 chairs on the old Sublette lift. All of the Leitner-Poma chairs have arrived, waiting to go on a test run. According to Mason, experts will run emergency tests and the chairs will carry large barrels filled with water to ensure passenger safety.
The new Sublette chair will move more quickly than the original did, taking just four minutes to ascend the lift’s nearly 1,600’ vertical route, according to JHMR.
“Skiers expect quick transportation,” Mason said. “It will be half the ride time.”
Skiers and snowboarders will also notice a few new design changes. Mason explained that the chair loading area will be reconfigured. Additionally, the chair will now move in a clockwise rotation instead of counter-clockwise rotation. The chairs will ascend up the downhill side of the slope.
“With the new profile, we hope the chair will not be up as high in the air,” Mason said. “The idea is that it will operate in high winds better, but if it’s 100 mph winds, Mother Nature will shut the lift down.”
A larger top terminal will be about 38 feet lower than its original location, and the towers will not be as tall to help with wind stability.
“Technology changes in 35 to 40 years, so it’s a great installation,” Mason said.
