It looks like Squaw Valley Resorts LLC has taken the first step towards replacing the Red Dog chairlift with a high-speed six pack. According to Placer County Public Documents Squaw Valley Resorts LLC is looking to “replace the existing triple chairlift with a high-speed, detachable 6-place chairlift on the same alignment to improve utilization of the Snow King terrain and shorten the ride time in half.”
Our only question is, what took them so long?
5 reasons why a high-speed six pack Red Dog would be incredible.
- It would drastically cut wait times on lower mountain during storm days.
- It would allow for faster early season laps when Red Dog is the only chair open.
- It would shorten Red Dog’s ride time in half.
- It would get less aggressive skiers out of the KT line and over to red dog.
- It would “open up” more intermediate terrain which in turn would mean less traffic heading up to Shirley Lake and coming down Mountain Run at the end of the day.
duh
Taking the last chair that can run in wind on a storm day, and making it un-runable.
Isn’t wind direction more of a factor and how much protection a lift has from these directions? Plenty of good lifts out there that spin through the storms.
It would be able to run in higher winds due to the fact that the chairs would be much heavier, and would be weighted by up to six people, not just three. Think of it this way which goes on wind hold first, Solitude or Shirley.
Shirley is protected by the roof , where about 90% of the storms blow out of the west.
Solitude, hardly ever goes on “wind hold” you fucking idiot. Did you mean silver ado, which the unload faces nearly due west on top of a ridge, just like Siberia and Headwall. Remember when that use to run in all sorts of wind, before it was a detachable…?
Now, you ever been on top of KT on the back of the Eagles Nest on a storm day? Sucks huh!?
What do you think is gonna happen when they level the mound of dirt behind the current Red Dog unload in order to put an unload station in for a 6 pack…..
WIND. Right in your stupid fucking face!
Guess what, detachables don’t like wind. Particularly HEAD wind that comes right outta the west, rips down the valley at Alpine Meadows, then right up the backside of the East Face of KT/SnowKing, and blasts you in the face.
Red Dog line blows
Pros: less waiting, more skiing.
Cons: more waiting, less skiing
In the new projects section, what does the “Squaw Valley Timberline Twister” refer to? Does anyone know?
Prolly an alpine Coaster
the new waterpark
It would drastically cut wait time in lower mountain while also cutting the time it takes for snow king to be tracked out in half, drastically.
if they were smart they would change the alignment to start near far east to utilize more of the terrain. this would eliminate the need to take two chairlifts for one good run. far east is one of the most worthless chairs at squaw.
Agree that Far East is pretty worthless at the moment, it will likely get more use once Phase I of the expanded village is finished. Issue with swinging the bottom terminal of Red Dog that far over is that it would not be accessible from Home Run from the upper mountain.
Too late for that bullshit it’s already September.
Red dog’s to dog-gone slow.
Add a two way rope tow, like they have at Alta, between the bottom of Squaw Creek and bottom of Far East. Then all that tree skiing down to the valley floor would be more user friendly.
User friendly is for pussies
remember the rope tow at the base of red dog lodge that went half way up reed dog face, circa 1993?
You could write a book about all the stupid lift decisions Squaw has made in its history. Red Dog and Resort triples should have been built as detachable h/s quads in the first place 20 years ago. But now think of 12 skiers every 10 seconds cloging the Red Dog slopes from Far East and a new Red Dog six-pack. Accident-central, slow-skiing zone designation, etc.
If you do it, move Far East someplace else more functional, and maybe put a portable surface lift covering most of the tree runs from the golf course (13th faiway to 14th tee) with cat tracks to get back to new Red Dog.
The reason they are waiting on this is so that they can make sure the replacement lift lines up and is placed properly with the giant a$$ buildings they are planning to put up in that area. Goodbye old Squaw Kids and Ski Patrol/Race complex, hello more condos and a stupid indoor waterpark.
Read the full list of Active Placer county projects, incl Squaw’s Timberline Twister idea, extending Hot Wheels to the top of Sherwood Bowl and a master plan that would toss six more lifts on the bump at NorthStar
http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/CommunityDevelopment/EnvCoordSvcs/~/media/cdr/ECS/CurrentProjects/current%20projects%2009%2012%20%20%20alpha%20order.ashx
Such great news! I really hope this happens!
fuck it, 6-packs all around! no need to use a less efficient chair lift on any slope. We are gonna carry SOOOOO many people up the lines will be skied off super fast! and then there will still be a line at the bottom to boot.
Make Squaw Creek a detachable quad at the same time or there’s disaster in the making.
I think this is a great thing. At the same time, rebuild C2 into a high-speed lift, add wind protection at the unload station, and give us the option of C2 bowl on high-wind days. Then SV would be an awesome storm mountain.
I thought we heard the Funitel lift works fine in high winds.
Why do they not run it in wind ??????????
Because the shit for brains engineers who installed it didn’t even think about passenger load and the cars pass too close to the mountain. High winds could wrap a car around the cliff that Squaw had to blow up just to make it so the Funitel would fit.
Funnest times, when Ski corp ran the very first funitel car up the line only to watch it implod against the mountain! HAHAHAHAHAHA!
It won’t matter a bit, ksl will close all chairs when wind gusts above 50mph now anyways.
Red Dog gets beat pretty quick with all the lameness of the new squaw passholders overturning the beejesus out of the hill. It doesn’t feature great terrain, only dumbs squaw down even more for the masses.
What the dipsticks still need to figure out is that they need to spread the crowds they created away from the base area.
Upgrade CII instead, it is wind protected from the kitchen wall and accesses far better terrain and conditions than RD.
CII used to run on storm days with KT and RD, but patrol whined enough about how much more work it creates to have gapers skiing the upper part of the mountain on storm days, so mgmt closes CII, Tower 16 and Funi for that reason alone.
But KSL isn’t about making squaw better, instead making squaw more accessible to droves of gapers who’ll spend their $$ on $15 pink slime burgers.
FACK!
C2 back in the day was awesome on wind days! Short of opening new terrain, north and south of existing areas, its always going to be Squalwood! What other area in North America has a lift like Squaw 1 that doesn’t run except for a holiday wekends?
the only thing that can save this mountain is a return to $1500 passes. shoulda been here a decade ago.
’95-2009 were about the best years ever, excellent snowfall totals, upgraded lifts, extreme bench, McConkey, new ski designs, push to get things open, semi-open boundaries, far less gaper/homos claiming it.
KSL just wants to eliminate all the good stuff and continue with Wal-Mart mentality. Skiing used to be an elite activity, for elite athletes, not for the masses.
The stupid roller coaster must be why there are a bunch of new survey markers in the woods above the maintenance building.
Word
Funny, everyone bitched, complained and whined about making Red Dog a high speed quad or a 6 pack. Now that Squaw wants to do it, what do UO readers do? Yup, bitch, complain and whine. Crazy. Maybe all you geniuses should go to business school or get a a degree in resort management and then spend 15-20 years working at resort. Then YOU could run Squaw Valley and make it the perfect resort. Guess what…Then there would still be people bitching, complaining, and whining at YOU! I vote for letting the people that know what the hell they are doing, run the place. It sure wasn’t done that way before under the old management and owners. I stood there they first day they opened the Funitel and watched the car hit the rocks. Got Dynamite?
Squaw is still the absolute best resort in all of Tahoe and in the top 5 in North America. That’s why they sell so many passes and all you people ski there. Maybe you could save the bitching, complaining and whining and enjoy the skiing. Every ski resort has it’s problems. The grass is not any greener anywhere else. If you find that is, then buy a pass there.
If they upgrade the Red Dog chair there are a couple of things that could be done to reduce potential slope crowding.
1. Cut down the brush that is growing up on all the lower slopes between Red Dog and the Resort. It takes a lot of snow to cover this brush and some runs have almost become impossible to ski.
2. Clean out the dead and fallen trees between Red Dog and the Resort (trees to left of Polsen’s looking up mountain). This area would make some of the best glade skiing in the world and would really improve skiing on days when the upper mountain is closed due to wind.
3. Cut a simple trail high enough on the bottom of this tree run that would bring you back to Far East (or the Resort) so you don’t end up on the golf course.
Good thoughts. I agree they would all help.
Imagine twice as many people skiing down the already crowded groomers on R.D. I vote for quality over quantity. Squaw Creek would be a better candidate for a six pack as it has more runs to absorb the crowd and it’s a longer lift. And as far as tree skiing goes, tougher access=less people=better skiing. I’ll gladly skate the road by the golf course while the crowds ski KT.
shhh…don’t tell anyone about hooking to the right and ginger stepping over chocolate chips to get into that chute and down into the glades on a storm day when everyone is waiting for two hours to get slopped over at KT.
Looks like the new lift continues to move forward – http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/CommunityDevelopment/EnvCoordSvcs/~/media/cdr/ECS/NegDec/SVRedDogChairlift.ashx