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The new, old, and ass backwards history of West Mt.

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grilled_steeze
Posts: 422 - Karma: 1,447
so ive heard some random shit being thrown around about the new lifts. Heres whats going down.

-New trail "the Gnar-wall" opening top-to-bottom skiing under the lift.

-the triples arent actually "new". towers and chairs for both "new" lifts are from a 1985 poma at haystack Mt. vermont (being replaced with a HS six). The summit lift terminals are from the same lift, and the lift that will replace the northwest chair came from either sugarbush or sugarloaf

-even though its called "The West Express", its not an express, or fast. it runs at 400 fpm, a touch faster than the old center-pole, 50 fpm faster, I believe.

-the new lift will begin in front of the rental shop, allowing for a larger park.

History-

Summit double: mid to late 1950's riblet from kobl mountain, Lake Placid (closed), installed at west in 1963, and upgraded in 1999 with new chairs safety equipment from bromleys former stargazer lift. towers from bromleys old lift are used as poles for west's tower guns, which they built themselves. LENKO brand snowmaking wasnt introduced until late 90s to early 2000.

Face lift: 1977 hall double retrofitted in 90s with an aftermarket hydraulic drive- retrofit done by owner, who now runs Pistenbully of Utica

Northwest Triple: aka "the triple" was the first in the east, installed in 1973 by thiokol

Original face lift: a 1961 single chair, it landed 50 feet up from the current face lifts end point

J-bar: this lift went up the race hill and ended 3/4 of the way up the face. it was removed in 1998 for the tubing park install

HKD snowmaking: a bad and uneconomical move in my opinion. west bought 10 air-water and 10 fan guns in 2015. good luck with that. very inefficient and not enough pump power for those air-water guns. not to mention the air-water guns make low quality snow, can only operate in temps below 20, and have on-board compressors, which suck up energy.

data from: www.poststar.com www.chairlift.org
the Brandts,and my dad, the former ski school director and former employee of 20+ years.
Aug 18 2015 6:00PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51263 - Karma: 157,455
https://www.newschoolers.com/membernewsread/A-Piece-History-West-Mountain

I heard the new lift is actually the chairlift ride from great escape in lake george.
Aug 20 2015 12:32PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51263 - Karma: 157,455
Im glad they're updating the lifts though. Hope they saved a few of those towers for tube rails.

For some reason west will always have a special place in my heart.
Aug 20 2015 12:33PM
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jdfreeski2
Posts: 210 - Karma: 439
My resort has HKD
Aug 20 2015 2:55PM
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grilled_steeze
Posts: 422 - Karma: 1,447
jdfreeski2My resort has HKD


HKD makes good air/water guns, but their fan guns need work. Air/water in general is meant for higher altitude, cold temp snowmaking. West is an hour north of Albany NY, so no high altitude, and temps are borderline for air/water.
Dec 27 2015 6:28PM
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Mr.noodle
Posts: 1361 - Karma: 4,650
Anyone know when they're sup to be open?
Dec 28 2015 7:36PM
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SkiBum.
Posts: 3597 - Karma: 3,895
Congrats on knowing nothing about snowmaking.
Dec 29 2015 3:10PM
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grilled_steeze
Posts: 422 - Karma: 1,447
SkiBum.Congrats on knowing nothing about snowmaking.


Thanks? i dont know how that reflects that I know nothing. I was my uncles "Apprentice" when and after he worked for Lenko...
Dec 29 2015 4:26PM
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grilled_steeze
Posts: 422 - Karma: 1,447
Mr.noodleAnyone know when they're sup to be open?


Theyre saying new years but idk if thats going to happen. I live literally 45 seconds from there and they havent been doing anything.
Dec 29 2015 4:27PM
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SkiBum.
Posts: 3597 - Karma: 3,895
casual.weekdayThanks? i dont know how that reflects that I know nothing. I was my uncles "Apprentice" when and after he worked for Lenko...


You must not have learned much or don't know shit about hkd or efficient snowmaking in general. I'm not a huge hkd fan but I know my numbers
Dec 29 2015 4:29PM
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grilled_steeze
Posts: 422 - Karma: 1,447
SkiBum.You must not have learned much or don't know shit about hkd or efficient snowmaking in general. I'm not a huge hkd fan but I know my numbers


What do you mean by "numbers"? how efficiently snow is made?
Dec 29 2015 5:20PM
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SkiBum.
Posts: 3597 - Karma: 3,895
casual.weekdayWhat do you mean by "numbers"? how efficiently snow is made?


Yeah. You saying they are inificient shows you know shit about shit
Dec 29 2015 11:06PM
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grilled_steeze
Posts: 422 - Karma: 1,447
SkiBum.Yeah. You saying they are inificient shows you know shit about shit


There is no central air system, so the onboard air compressor is less efficient, say per inch of snow, than a fan gun is. Larger mountains with a central air system save huge amounts of money by powering a compressor station, instead of individual compressors on each gun. In this particular system, fan guns are more efficient. It's not that HKD makes bad guns, because they don't, the impulse heads are amazing, but fan guns are better suited for west, and fan guns is the part of HKD that seems to have taken the back burner. HKD has the potential to make a great fan gun, but at this point 15 DEMACLENKO guns would be better than 10 halos and 10 impulse guns.
Dec 29 2015 11:40PM
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grilled_steeze
Posts: 422 - Karma: 1,447
SkiBum.Yeah. You saying they are inificient shows you know shit about shit


And air water guns are only more efficient than fan guns in a central air system, so onboard compressor systems are designed for narrower trails with fan gun hookups that can't have a large machine placed on it.
Dec 29 2015 11:43PM
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SkiBum.
Posts: 3597 - Karma: 3,895
casual.weekdayThere is no central air system, so the onboard air compressor is less efficient, say per inch of snow, than a fan gun is. Larger mountains with a central air system save huge amounts of money by powering a compressor station, instead of individual compressors on each gun. In this particular system, fan guns are more efficient. It's not that HKD makes bad guns, because they don't, the impulse heads are amazing, but fan guns are better suited for west, and fan guns is the part of HKD that seems to have taken the back burner. HKD has the potential to make a great fan gun, but at this point 15 DEMACLENKO guns would be better than 10 halos and 10 impulse guns.


I'd rather have 1 TF-10 then all the above mentioned crap
Dec 30 2015 7:58AM
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grilled_steeze
Posts: 422 - Karma: 1,447
SkiBum.I'd rather have 1 TF-10 then all the above mentioned crap


Techno guns are nice, so are lenkos, but SMI got its nickname for a reason. Its all for what is economical and best suited for the resort. buying 100 fan guns is a lot more expensive than buying 100 air-water guns, but if you need only 3 or 4 guns, fans might be cheaper to run. I'm with you on the fact that fan guns are better than air water, but I would keep both in mind if I had to spec for a resort.
Dec 30 2015 8:06AM
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