I really thought the interconnect at the Highlands would have been a pulse Quad. It's got a lower uphill demand and longer route, which would make it great for the four (or more) pod pulse akin to Norquay.
That was my thought exactly. Almost all the chairs go up empty and it's a long distance by midwestern standards. But, they put in a more or less standard carpet loading fixed grip. The other ripe candidate for a pulse lift would be an interconnect between the two areas at Snowriver. There's talk of a gondola and I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's a pulse lift.
Big Powderhorn Mountain would be a great candidate for a pulse lift. They have three sets of redundant side by side lifts and very rarely need the extra. They're also competing for skiers against Snowriver's new high-speed.
Mystery Mountain at Lutsen could benefit from converting to a pulse lift. That has to be one of the longest lift rides in the midwest and pretty low capacity needed
When I was last there in 22/23, they had somewhat removed the mid unload and had signs saying not to unload there. Which made the ride even longer if you just wanted to ski the bottom part. Curious to see if they open Mystery this next year since they didn’t seem to get around to it last season
You can still do Mid-stations with pulses. In fact you could design the spacing to be pulses at loading, midstation-unload, upper-unload, midstation-download. That way all pulses are hitting a station when slowing down.
There only needs to be one speed. It could stop completely for mount/dismount. (flat area on top obviously) 2 pods of chairs. Board at your leisure, then it takes off full speed at the 3/4/5 minute mark.
That would be sweet if you could configure any fixed grip to a pulse…. They could be set up in pulse mode for midweek hot laps and then add chairs for busy weekends.
@@paulblichmann2791 as I understand it, the chairs can’t whip around the bottom and top terminals in high speed mode… that’s why they group them in two sections, when all the chairs clear the bull wheels, you can crank the speed back up.
I have had a long fascination with pulsed chairlifts. There are so many possible variables. I can think of multiple places in small ski areas in the Alps and Scotland. We also have fixed grip 6-pack chairlifts in Europe. I can imagine a 6-person pulsed lift with greater spacing between chairs, a faster load / unload speed of 250/300ft per minute and a longer lift line that can obtain a capacity of 1500/hr Additionally, a benefit of a pulsed lift over fixed grip is that if the summit station is particularly windy, the chairs can be stationed halfway up the line on both sides rather than being at the exposed summit and sheltered valley. Once before I considered if a detachable/fixed grip hybrid could be engineered- a lift where the chairs can be detached from the line for storage and stored away during storms and the summer, but where the lift would operate like a fixed grip in every other manner
Downhill unloading is an awesome concept. Very interesting video. Never heard of a pulse. I'm still all about the rope tow tho... Make J-Lo work for it! Boho should put in a pulse at voodoo.
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I really thought the interconnect at the Highlands would have been a pulse Quad. It's got a lower uphill demand and longer route, which would make it great for the four (or more) pod pulse akin to Norquay.
That was my thought exactly. Almost all the chairs go up empty and it's a long distance by midwestern standards. But, they put in a more or less standard carpet loading fixed grip. The other ripe candidate for a pulse lift would be an interconnect between the two areas at Snowriver. There's talk of a gondola and I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's a pulse lift.
Big Powderhorn Mountain would be a great candidate for a pulse lift. They have three sets of redundant side by side lifts and very rarely need the extra. They're also competing for skiers against Snowriver's new high-speed.
Mystery Mountain at Lutsen could benefit from converting to a pulse lift. That has to be one of the longest lift rides in the midwest and pretty low capacity needed
That’s a great idea, how would they handle the unload? Wasn’t that a mid station unload?
When I was last there in 22/23, they had somewhat removed the mid unload and had signs saying not to unload there. Which made the ride even longer if you just wanted to ski the bottom part. Curious to see if they open Mystery this next year since they didn’t seem to get around to it last season
You can still do Mid-stations with pulses. In fact you could design the spacing to be pulses at loading, midstation-unload, upper-unload, midstation-download. That way all pulses are hitting a station when slowing down.
@@navandalli if the unload is steep enough, you should outrun the chair pretty easily. Pretty bad idea to do that for Bunny Hill access though.
There only needs to be one speed. It could stop completely for mount/dismount. (flat area on top obviously)
2 pods of chairs. Board at your leisure, then it takes off full speed at the 3/4/5 minute mark.
That would be sweet if you could configure any fixed grip to a pulse…. They could be set up in pulse mode for midweek hot laps and then add chairs for busy weekends.
In a perfect world! Unfortunately, it's not that simple.
You could just NOT USE 3/4 of the chairs. and if you have a "Certified Boss" lift pass, you could board during full speed phase.
@@paulblichmann2791 as I understand it, the chairs can’t whip around the bottom and top terminals in high speed mode… that’s why they group them in two sections, when all the chairs clear the bull wheels, you can crank the speed back up.
You should visit Alberta, our non-mountain ski hills are quite similar to what the US Midwest offers (maybe without all the park tows though)
Looks like it! I’m going to see if I can make up that way next season. I would love to see Wishbone in person
I have had a long fascination with pulsed chairlifts. There are so many possible variables. I can think of multiple places in small ski areas in the Alps and Scotland. We also have fixed grip 6-pack chairlifts in Europe. I can imagine a 6-person pulsed lift with greater spacing between chairs, a faster load / unload speed of 250/300ft per minute and a longer lift line that can obtain a capacity of 1500/hr
Additionally, a benefit of a pulsed lift over fixed grip is that if the summit station is particularly windy, the chairs can be stationed halfway up the line on both sides rather than being at the exposed summit and sheltered valley.
Once before I considered if a detachable/fixed grip hybrid could be engineered- a lift where the chairs can be detached from the line for storage and stored away during storms and the summer, but where the lift would operate like a fixed grip in every other manner
Downhill unloading is an awesome concept. Very interesting video. Never heard of a pulse. I'm still all about the rope tow tho... Make J-Lo work for it! Boho should put in a pulse at voodoo.
Not sold on the pulse chairs. Thumbs down.