Boyne Mountain’s new eight-pack chairlift, called Disciples 8, is a bit of a head-scratcher. As my colleague Matt Lorelli pointed out in August, it’s a little odd for a Midwest mountain with a five hundred-foot vertical drop to install a detachable eight-pack rather than a quad or a six-pack chairlift. With a ride of just over three minutes, the new lift risks putting too many rippers on the slopes.

In a construction video update from last week, the ski resort explained why they chose an eight-person chairlift over other options. They wanted a high-speed lift to replace two Riblets, so they bounced around a quad, six-pack, or eight-pack chairlift. They were home to the first high-speed quad in the world, along with the first six-pack chairlift in the country. So they decided that the first eight-pack chairlift in the Midwest would continue that tradition.

Honestly, I was expecting a better explanation than that. To me, higher capacity lifts make more sense at mountains with larger vertical drops like Big Sky Resort and Sunday River, not smaller mountains like Boyne Mountain.

Image/Video Credits: Boyne Mountain