Skiers and snowboarders will see upgrades across the mountain this season at Mt. Bachelor. A new lift and several improvements to other lifts across the mountain, such as Northwest, are aimed at helping manage lift lines and improved operations in the wind.
Mt. Bachelor replaced its centrally located Skyliner lift this summer, upgrading the previous four-person lift to a high-speed six-seater.
“The six-pack will bring some improved operations in the wind, which we have a lot of issues with at Mt. Bachelor,” said Mountain Operations Director Dustin Smith. “It’s a challenging resort to operate.”
Mt. Bachelor often has high gusts of wind that regularly cause lifts to close down for hours. With heavier carriers, and more tension on the haul rope, the new six-pack lift is thought to perform better in the wind.
Skyliner sits in a highly trafficked area of the mountain, in between the Pine Marten lift at West Village and Sunrise lift at Sunrise Lodge. Stormy, windy days oftentimes cause closures for other parts of the mountain, which can cause lines at lifts like Skyliner to escalate. The increased uphill capacity that comes with this new lift, said Smith, will help manage lines at the base area.
The new lift will have a parking rail, allowing the resort to park the top third of the chairs at the bottom of the lift every night, keeping them free of ice.
“We’re really just super excited about this lift and what it’s going to do to help us be able to ride a more consistent product,” said Smith.
Mt. Bachelor’s main motivation for replacing the lift was the complicated process of replacing old parts. Obtaining parts for the lift was extremely challenging for the resort, given that Skyliner was built in 1989.
Mt. Bachelor signed a contract for a new lift in 2021, after a lift part failed. The part took months to replace, which caused Skyliner to remain non-operational for the rest of the 2021 season. Last season, the lift was open while the Mt. Bachelor team waited for contract approval with the U.S. Forest Service, the agency that issues the permits for use of the land.
Lift construction gave Mt. Bachelor an opportunity to address issues in the terrain as well. To help traffic flow, the top of Skyliner will be shortened and moved nearly 50 feet down the mountain, providing more space to unload and exit the lift. The bottom of the lift will be moved slightly uphill, allowing more room for special events at the base.
Mt. Bachelor is set to open on Friday, Nov. 24, weather and conditions permitting, with the Skyliner lift expected to open on Dec. 22. In addition to the new lift, other upgrades will help improve parts of the mountain while maintaining others. “We spend the entire summer doing maintenance to our lifts,” said Smith.
Northwest lift, which saw abnormally long lines during the 2022-23 season, received a new haul rope and an electric motor in August, which Smith said will improve operations. Last year, Northwest ran on an auxiliary power unit, a diesel motor that runs the lift. While the previous motor could run the lift at full speed, it ran slower when it had a higher load on the motor.
According to Smith, this is why people saw the lift running slower on powder days. Wind also slowed the lift down at times. “There’s a lot of factors that will contribute to the speed of the lift running,” said Smith.
This article appears in Source Weekly November 2, 2023.
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