Detachable chairlift
This saves considerable time, expense and hazard when opening the chair for operation, which would otherwise require workers to climb each tower and chip away ice and shovel snow.
Some detachable chairlifts have so-called bubble chairs, which add a retractable acrylic glass dome to protect passengers from weather.
Boarding passengers are progressively accelerated on a system of conveyor belts of carpet-like material until nearly matching the chair speed.
[1] Doppelmayr (North America) built the first detachable quad chair in the world, the Quicksilver SuperChair, in 1981 at Breckenridge, CO.
Von Roll Habegger installed the "Adirondack Express", a high-speed triple, the only lift of its kind in the Eastern US, at Gore Mountain, NY in 1984.
Then Poma built the first chairlift that went 1,100 feet per minute, the Green Mountain Express, at Sugarbush Resort, VT in 1990.
A detachable two person chairlift called White Lady was installed in Cairngorm Mountain, Scotland in 1961.
[2] In 1981, the first ever high speed detachable quad in the world was installed, the Doppelmayr-built Quicksilver SuperChair at Breckenridge Ski Resort in Colorado[3].
[citation needed] This lift was relocated in 1999 to the Owl's Head Ski area in Quebec as "Le Lac", and was dismantled in 2019 after 38 seasons in two countries.
In 1988, Vail Ski Resort opened up Orient Express Lift #21, which was the first Doppelmayr chairlift in the U.S. to have rectangular tower heads.
When the chair enters a terminal, the angled roller is pushed down by a metal strip, which opens a grip jaw.
Insufficient grip force triggers an alarm and brings the lift to a halt before the carrier reaches the first breakover tower after the terminal.
With the introduction of the Torsion series came the UNI-M terminal, which underwent a number of minor cosmetic changes between 1995 and 2002.
The old (Colorado Superchair) at Breckenridge Ski Resort, and the (American Flyer) at Copper Mountain are two great examples of Performance terminals with vault drives.
It also built the new highest high speed six pack as of 2022 in North America (Lenawee Mountain Express), located at Arapahoe Basin, with a peak height of 12,434 feet (3,790 m).
[citation needed] CTEC built their first detachable in 1989 at Solitude Mountain Resort (named the Eagle express).
They have built detachable lifts at many resorts, such as Grand Targhee, Stevens Pass, Deer Valley, Park City, Snowbird, Alta, Palisades Tahoe, Stratton, and Attitash.
The detachable grips were of an unusual design, in which a steel bar with V-shaped troughs sat atop the haul rope and were held in place by tensioning assembly with rubber springs.
A chair slipped from the steepest part of the lift, creating a domino effect involving 3 others.
All four chairs fell 75 feet upon crashing into the sheaves on the nearest tower, killing 2 riders and injuring 8.
They continue to make Garaventa and Dopplemayr Carriers, their UNI-GS/UNI-G (Europe) terminals, and the Torsion grip today.
