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45-424: The base elevation of White Pass is at 4,500 feet (1,370 m) above sea level , with a lift-served summit at 6,500 feet (1,980 m), yielding a vertical drop of 2,000 feet (610 m). Located on the south side of the east-west highway, the slopes primarily face north. The mountain has six chairlifts : two high speed quads , a fixed-grip quad, a triple, and two doubles. It also includes two surface lifts :

90-667: A platter lift and a magic carpet for beginning skiers. There is a terrain park located on Rib Eye off the Basin Quad that regularly features rail jams, slopestyle, and other obstacles. The Nordic Center provides access to a variety of groomed, double-tracked cross-country ski , trails in the Wenatchee and Gifford Pinchot National Forests . The terrain challenges all ability levels in classic cross-county, skating cross-country, and snowshoeing on 28 km (17 mi) of trails. The day lodge has rental skis and boards, food, lockers, and

135-477: A Performance terminal with an Alpha drive unit at the far end. These early chairlifts also had vault drives which were located under the Performance terminal. The old (Colorado Superchair) at Breckenridge Ski Resort , and the (American Flyer) at Copper Mountain are two great examples of Performance terminals with vault drives. Very few lifts exist with this style to this day. Later on, the Performance drive terminal

180-590: A bar. Across the highway to the north, the White Pass Village Inn offers overnight accommodations. White Pass Ski Area opened in January 1953. The initial area only consisted of the Poma Face hill serviced by a number of Rope tows . Shortly after, the ski area built a Poma surface lift that ran from roughly in front of the present day lodge's location to the top of the Poma Face. In 1956, White Pass expanded to

225-487: A grip failure stacked two chairs together at Sierra-at-Tahoe , killing a 9-year-old boy. Finally, in 1995, 4 chairs plummeted from Whistler Blackcomb's Quicksilver lift while it was operating. A chair slipped from the steepest part of the lift, creating a domino effect involving 3 others. All four chairs fell 75 feet upon crashing into the sheaves on the nearest tower, killing 2 riders and injuring 8. Yan filed for bankruptcy in 1997 and has not operated since. Leitner-Poma

270-420: A group of five Yakima-area businesspeople. In 2022, the new ownership group introduced an expanded beginners' area, more Nordic trails, and a ski patrol building. Future expansion is contingent on approval from the U.S. Forest Service. Former World Cup racing twins Phil and Steve Mahre grew up at White Pass along with their family, where their father Dave "Spike" Mahre was the mountain manager. Pigtail II

315-414: A high speed quad, DT-106 on a high speed six pack, or DT-108 on an eight-passenger gondola. The Torsion grip is still made today as Doppelmayr (North America) 's primary grip option. Unlike Poma 's grips, Doppelmayr grips are double position grips. When the chair enters a terminal, the angled roller is pushed down by a metal strip, which opens a grip jaw. The jaw remains open until the chair reattaches to

360-951: A peak height of 12,434 feet (3,790 m). CTEC built their first detachable in 1989 at Solitude Mountain Resort (named the Eagle express). In building this lift they had a rare partnership with Von Roll for their detachable technology. This also happened to be the first detachable quad in Utah. From 1990 on they partnered with Garaventa for their detachable technology before they merged in 1992. They have built detachable lifts at many resorts, such as Grand Targhee, Stevens Pass, Deer Valley, Park City, Snowbird, Alta, Palisades Tahoe, Stratton, and Attitash. They constructed lifts until 2002 when they merged with Doppelmayr. Some Garaventa designs are used to this day. Yan Lift , known in its later years as Lift Engineering, built 31 high speed quads between 1987 and 1994, mostly in

405-465: A powerful spring-loaded cable grip which detaches at terminals, allowing the chair to slow considerably for convenient loading and unloading at a typical speed of 200 ft/min (2 mph, 4 km/h, 1 m/s), a speed slower even than fixed-grip bunny chairlifts . They are now commonplace at all but the smallest of ski resorts . Some are installed at tourist attractions as well as for urban transportation. Another advantage of detaching chairs

450-443: A retractable acrylic glass dome to protect passengers from weather. An alternative system for reconciling slow boarding speeds with fast rope speeds is the carpet lift : the chairs move at full speed even through the terminal. Boarding passengers are progressively accelerated on a system of conveyor belts of carpet-like material until nearly matching the chair speed. On Sunday, 26 December 2004, Lech am Arlberg and Schröcken in

495-441: A variety of sizes, carrying from 1 to 8 passengers. All chairs on a given chairlift usually have the same capacity. Slang terms for the different sizes include "single", "double", "triple", "quad", "six pack", and "eight". Detachable chairlifts may also be described as "high speed" or "express", which results in terms such as "high speed six pack" and "express quad". Some detachable chairlifts have so-called bubble chairs , which add

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540-652: Is a Swiss maker of chairlifts and gondolas. While they are an important player in the European ski lift market, only a few of their lifts have been installed in Asia and South America. Sadly, there are currently no Bartholet detachable chairlifts in the United States. French MND has a history of Alpine manufacturing. The company formerly partnered with Bartholet for their grip technology. With this technology having been developed in Europe,

585-430: Is a type of passenger aerial lift , which, like a fixed-grip chairlift , consists of numerous chairs attached to a constantly moving wire rope (called a haul rope ) that is strung between two (or more) terminals over intermediate towers. In contrast to the fixed-grip version, the chairs of a detachable chair lift detach from the haul rope for loading and unloading. The significance of detachable chairlift technology

630-631: Is also known for building some very unusual lifts, mostly at Breckenridge Ski Resort , which include North America's only double loading chairlift (Quicksilver Super6), the first high speed lift in Colorado with a midway load (Peak 8 SuperConnect), and the highest lift in North America (Imperial Express SuperChair) at 12,840 feet. It also built the new highest high speed six pack as of 2022 in North America (Lenawee Mountain Express), located at Arapahoe Basin , with

675-475: Is developing a 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) to keep up with growing needs for high quality topographic data. 3DEP is a collection of enhanced elevation data in the form of high quality LiDAR data over the conterminous United States, Hawaii, and the U.S. territories. There are three bare earth DEM layers in 3DEP which are nationally seamless at the resolution of 1/3, 1, and 2 arcseconds. Detachable chairlift A detachable chairlift or high-speed chairlift

720-486: Is mainly used when referring to points on the Earth's surface, while altitude or geopotential height is used for points above the surface, such as an aircraft in flight or a spacecraft in orbit, and depth is used for points below the surface. Elevation is not to be confused with the distance from the center of the Earth. Due to the equatorial bulge , the summits of Mount Everest and Chimborazo have, respectively,

765-549: Is now classified as a CLD-260 terminal. These and the older terminals were the only types of terminals to use chains instead of tires for contours. In 1989, the old design was officially retired with the addition of the Avanti high speed quad at Vail, and a new design, called the UNI , was introduced. This design was utilized from 1989 to the last year of the DS-104 grip in 1994. In 1992, the design

810-618: Is one of the oldest still-operating chairlifts in North America. As of 2019, it is the second-oldest chairlift still in operation in Washington state (beaten only by Mount Spokane ’s Chair 1 ). Elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid , a mathematical model of the Earth 's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vertical datum ). The term elevation

855-406: Is primarily the speed and capacity. Detachable chairlifts move far faster than their fixed-grip brethren, averaging 1,000 feet per minute (11.3 mph, 18 km/h, 5.08 m/s) versus a typical fixed-grip speed of 500 ft/min (5.6 mph, 9 km/h, 2.54 m/s). Because the cable moves faster than most passengers could safely disembark and load, each chair is connected to the cable by

900-471: Is the ability to remove chairs during severe weather in order to reduce stress on the rope and towers. Furthermore, operating the unladen rope during extreme weather is effective at preventing—or greatly reducing—ice and snow accumulation on the sheaves and rope. This saves considerable time, expense and hazard when opening the chair for operation, which would otherwise require workers to climb each tower and chip away ice and shovel snow. Chairlifts are made in

945-413: Is the present day version of Poma , as joint venture in the United States. In Europe, Poma and Leitner operate as separate ventures. They no longer make these types of detachable products: Arceaux Carrier, Arceaux version 2 Carrier, Performance Terminal, Challenger Terminal, Competition Terminal, Leitner Grip, Omega Terminal, and Omega grip. Now, Leitner-Poma has created an improved Omega carrier, along with

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990-600: The "Adirondack Express", a high-speed triple, the only lift of its kind in the Eastern US, at Gore Mountain , NY in 1984. Then Poma built the first chairlift that went 1,100 feet per minute, the Green Mountain Express, at Sugarbush Resort , VT in 1990. The detachable chairlift didn't start with a chairlift, rather, it started with the Platter lift in 1908, as the sticks left the cable and attached when someone loaded onto

1035-427: The (Quicksilver Superchair's) installation. Although hard to prove, the earliest known Poma quads are from circa 1985, such as the (Coney Glade) at Snowmass , the (Liberator Express) at Mission Ridge (installed in 2005, formally known as (Summit Express), ran at Winter Park Resort from 1985 to 2005), and others. Many of the original high speed quads they built were known as Alpha Evolution lifts, because they utilized

1080-637: The Bregenzerwald, became the first chairlifts to have heated seats when five Doppelmayr detachable chairlifts offer skiers the added luxury of a warm seat on the uphill trip. Doppelmayr (North America) built the first detachable quad chair in the world, the Quicksilver SuperChair, in 1981 at Breckenridge, CO. This chair was later replaced by the Quicksilver Super6, a detachable six person chairlift, by Poma in 1999. Von Roll Habegger installed

1125-497: The Poma's towers were left on the hill as lighting for night skiing. In 2000, White Pass overhauled the beginner area of the mountain. The last remaining rope tow was replaced with a Doppelmayr platterpull. Chair 3 was removed and a new Garaventa triple lift, following a different route, was installed. Beginning in a newly cut-out area to the east of the area, the Far East lift ended at

1170-533: The Torsion grip today. Doppelmayr in the U.S. is starting to discontinue the Garaventa carriers, and replacing them with Doppelmayr EJ carriers. Doppelmayr is known for building the first high speed quad, building the first 8-passenger gondola at Steamboat Ski Resort and having a good relationship with Big Sky Resort , Vail Ski Resort , Beaver Creek Resort , Steamboat Ski Resort , and many other ski resorts. Bartholet

1215-602: The U.S. to have rectangular tower heads. The Orient Express was also the first Doppelmayr chairlift in the U.S. to have 800 horsepower. The original grip was slightly modified later before the Vail quads were built. Known as the Spring Series, these grips were known as DS-104 grips on high speed quads and DS-108s on eight passenger gondolas. In 1995, a newer grip was introduced called the Torsion series . Torsion grips were called DT-104 if on

1260-462: The United States and Canada. The detachable grips were of an unusual design, in which a steel bar with V-shaped troughs sat atop the haul rope and were held in place by tensioning assembly with rubber springs. These grips relied more on gravity and friction than raw grip force, and were much weaker than other designs. The grips were notorious for slipping, and often required realignment. Yan stopped building detachables after two fatal accidents. In 1993,

1305-425: The cable upon departing the terminal. Grip clamping force is measured just prior to the double position grips reattaching to the haul rope while a carrier (chair) is exiting the terminal, in contrast to Poma's grips, in which grip force can be measured as the grip travels through the contour. Insufficient grip force triggers an alarm and brings the lift to a halt before the carrier reaches the first breakover tower after

1350-520: The company installed their first U.S. system at Waterville Valley New Hampshire . The lift is called the Tecumseh Express , and is a detachable six-person bubble chairlift. In late 2023, Bartholet cancelled its MND partnership when it was purchased by HTI Group (the parent company of Poma, Leitner, Leitner Poma of America and many others). In April of 2024 MND revealed its Orizon line. A new model of Terminals, Grips and carriers. The carriers include

1395-417: The fall of 1958. Also built by Riblet , it ran in parallel with the original chair. This second chair had nearly 30% greater capacity (900 vs. 700/hr), with a more robust cable and gearbox. It also had 50% more lift towers, which were greater in height in anticipation of high snowfall . The installed cost of the second chair exceeded $ 200,000. The resort also widened Cascade and cut out two additional runs from

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1440-406: The grip travels through the contour, and for the lift to come to a stop before the grip is reattached to the haul rope if insufficient grip force is detected. Unlike Doppelmayr lifts that check grip force while a grip and carrier are leaving the terminal, most Poma detachable lifts are not built to operate in reverse because a grip force failed grip can be brought to a halt within the terminal. Poma

1485-579: The landscape at different scales. Tools inside the GIS allow for manipulation of data for spatial analysis or cartography. A topographical map is the main type of map used to depict elevation, often through contour lines . In a Geographic Information System (GIS), digital elevation models (DEM) are commonly used to represent the surface (topography) of a place, through a raster (grid) dataset of elevations. Digital terrain models are another way to represent terrain in GIS. USGS (United States Geologic Survey)

1530-617: The largest elevation and the largest geocentric distance. In aviation, the term elevation or aerodrome elevation is defined by the ICAO as the highest point of the landing area. It is often measured in feet and can be found in approach charts of the aerodrome. It is not to be confused with terms such as the altitude or height. GIS or geographic information system is a computer system that allows for visualizing, manipulating, capturing, and storage of data with associated attributes. GIS offers better understanding of patterns and relationships of

1575-578: The new LPA grip, and a new version of the Omega terminal. Leitner-Poma has good relationships with Breckenridge Ski Resort , Vail Ski Resort , Winter Park Resort , Snowmass , Aspen Mountain , Buttermilk , Aspen Highlands , Okemo , Mount Snow , Sugarbush Resort and many other ski resorts. Doppelmayr (North America) , formally known as Doppelmayr CTEC is the merger of CTEC, Garaventa, and Doppelmayr globally. They continue to make Garaventa and Dopplemayr Carriers, their UNI-GS/UNI-G (Europe) terminals, and

1620-458: The new Omega T-Grip came out and a new terminal known as the Omega was introduced for it. It was replaced by a newer variant that mainly modified the windows on the ends in 2003. Unlike Doppelmayr, the Poma grips are single position. In such method, they are pressed down, which opens the jaws to detach the chair, and then the jaws close and the spring is released. The process is reversed for attachment. This design allows grip force to be measured as

1665-702: The stick. A detachable two person chairlift called White Lady was installed in Cairngorm Mountain, Scotland in 1961. In 1981, the first ever high speed detachable quad in the world was installed, the Doppelmayr-built Quicksilver SuperChair at Breckenridge Ski Resort in Colorado . This lift was relocated in 1999 to the Owl's Head Ski area in Quebec as "Le Lac", and was dismantled in 2019 after 38 seasons in two countries. This first detachable chairlift

1710-526: The summit of Pigtail Peak with its very first chairlift . Dubbed Pigtail I , the two-person lift was created by the Riblet Tramway Company of Spokane, Washington . It was a mile (1.6 km) in length, with a vertical rise of 1,500 feet (460 m) from the highway base area to 6,000 feet (1,830 m). The resort cut two long runs from the summit, which they named Holiday and Cascade. White Pass added its second double chairlift , Pigtail II , in

1755-541: The summit of Pigtail Peak. Additionally, the resort cut out three new runs around Paradise that ended at the new lift. Looking to increase capacity at the base area, White Pass installed a high-speed detachable lift that ran from the highway to the summit in 1994. Built by Doppelmayr , the Great White Express had nearly double the capacity of the two Pigtail lifts combined. The Poma surface lift and Pigtail I were removed to make room for Great White, though some of

1800-486: The summit: Mach V and Paradise. The area started full-week operations for the 1958–59 season, with daily adult lift tickets priced at $ 3.50. In 1964, the area added a new Riblet double chairlift to the beginner area. Chair 3 ran from the highway on the east side of the resort to a flat area about a hundred yards below the base of Cascade Cliff. In 1984, the ski area installed Chair 4 , another double built by Riblet . This lift ran from roughly halfway down Paradise to

1845-519: The terminal. Because of this design, most Doppelmayr detachable lifts are designed to allow operation in reverse. This allows a grip force-alarmed grip and carrier to be backed into the terminal for inspection or removal. The original terminals on the Quicksilver Quad were all completely enclosed, but in 1985, in time for the Vail Ski Resort high speed quads, the terminal design changed to what

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1890-584: The top of the Poma Face. The expansion in the Paradise Basin opened in the 2010–11 season and added 767 acres (3.1 km) of terrain and two new Doppelmayr chairlifts. The Basin Quad is a fixed-grip quad and the Couloir Express is the area's second high-speed detachable quad . The resort also constructed a new lodge between the new chairlifts. In December 2021, the ski area was sold by White Pass Co. Inc. to

1935-640: Was changed slightly mainly in the entry funnels area. With the introduction of the Torsion series came the UNI-M terminal, which underwent a number of minor cosmetic changes between 1995 and 2002. Currently, two options are offered, the UNI-G terminal, and the UNI-GS terminal, which can be distinguished through the appearance of the end windows. The first UNI-GS chairlift, Panorama, debuted in 2003 at Gunstock Mountain Resort . Poma entered this market within two to three years of

1980-504: Was followed by a Doppelmayr detachable triple chair at Mt Bachelor in Oregon in 1983 and two detachable quads at Mt Buller , Victoria, Australia in 1984. Until 1985, Quicksilver was also the only detachable quad in Colorado when Vail Ski Resort installed four Doppelmayr high speed quads. In 1988, Vail Ski Resort opened up Orient Express Lift #21, which was the first Doppelmayr chairlift in

2025-485: Was modified to house the bullwheel machinery inside the main terminal structure itself, eliminating the need to run the cable through the terminal. Poma was also slower at introducing tire contours over chains, and it wasn't until 1992 that tire contours were used by the company with the introduction of the Challenger terminal. This terminal would undergo changes with the windows before officially retired in 1998. At that time,

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