Image from skivermont.com
“I think this was a long time coming. It’s older than I am.” -Mountain Manager Garren Goodwin
If you have ever been on flight and looked down at an armrest ashtray and gotten a sinking feeling while wondered just how old this giant metal tube hurtling through the sky really is, you can relate to how people at Suicide Six Ski Area in Pomfret, Vermont felt riding a 1976 double-seater. The lift was shutdown by regulators in April 2015, reopened in January 2016 and then a few weeks later the chairlift stopped and wouldn’t reset.
“You’re going from like a rotary telephone to an iPhone” Garren Goodwin
The new $1.5 million chairlift will be ready for the resort’s December opening according to thevermontstandard.com. It’s manufacturer is Leitner-Poma out of Colorado and it will have 4 seats. While it will not spin any faster than its mid-1970’s predecessor, it will be able to take 1,800 people per hour (the old lift could only carry 1,200) and is expected to reduce lift lines and be a valuable asset to the ski school.
Garren Goodwin is both excited and surprised, “I’m really excited out there at Suicide. I never thought I’d seen it in my tenure here.”