New England’s most maligned chairlift has spun for the last time. On Sunday, the Summit Triple at Attitash Mountain Resort in New Hampshire had its final day of operations. The slow fixed-grip triple chairlift frequently saw mechanical breakdowns in its final years, but it was a peaceful ride with great views of the Mt. Washington Valley.
One of the bummers about the replacement is that the observation tower will be removed. According to the Conway Daily Sun, its tower is a part of the lift, and rock blasting will need to be conducted, so it will need to be taken down.
The last skiers, which are in the featured image above, left to right were Bob Wright of Cape Cod, Joe Keleman of Bartlett, and Peter Zawavzeki of Bartlett. The chairs were sold in an auction earlier this week, with the proceeds going towards the EpicPromise Employee Foundation, Bartlett Fire Department, and the Bartlett-Jackson Ambulance Service.
Its replacement will be the Mountaineer Express, a high-speed quad that is being supplied by Leitner-Poma. The new lift will make the trip to the top much quicker, and reduce lift lines at the ski resort. The new lift’s capacity per hour will be 2400 guests, which is a massive improvement over its predecessor, which carried 1500 people per hour. The ride time will be a little bit over six minutes, a horse’s pace compared to the Summit Triple’s 16-to-18-minute voyage.
On Sunday, General Manager Brandon Swartz and Mountain Operations Manager Deirdre Riley hosted a ski-around tour which gave guests an idea of what the new lift will be like.
The Attitash side is now closed for the season to begin work on the replacement of the Summit Triple. The Bear Peak side will reopen tomorrow, with its closing date set for April 9th.
Image Credits: Attitash Mountain Resort
