New Summit Lift at Solitude

[socal]

Just saw this on Twitter

Just applied to replace summit lift w/ detachable quad lift. Details on FB: https://www.facebook.com/skisolitude

https://twitter.com/skisolitude/status/474938359593598977

Interested where they're putting it, they say on Facebok that " The location of the new Summit Lift will allow access from either Sunrise, Apex, or Powderhorn chairlifts."

 

[flyover]

According to Solitude:

IT'S NOT ABOUT CHAIRLIFTS; IT'S WHERE THEY TAKE YOU.

http://www.skisolitude.com/mountain/ :lol:

To be honest, I have no idea what that means, but it seems like a questionable choice of slogan for the resort with the most annoying lift layout in the Cottenwoods.

I haven't been to Solitude since they replaced the old Powderhorn with the new Powderhorn and Apex lifts. Is it not currently possible to ski down from the top of Apex to the base of the Summit lift? Can't really tell from the trail map.

 

[Marc_C]

I haven't been to Solitude since they replaced the old Powderhorn with the new Powderhorn and Apex lifts. Is it not currently possible to ski down from the top of Apex to the base of the Summit lift? Can't really tell from the trail map.

Nope. Even staying as high as possible and traversing as far right as possible still puts you well below the bottom terminal of the summit lift. This is no different than the original Apex lift as the new one ends at the same spot.

Regarding the earlier statement up thread about using Powderhorn to get to the current Summit lift: while possible via the Parachute gate, the conditions are often not good enough to do so. And it is definitely not intermediate terrain.

 

[jimk]

Sounds like the new summit lift will be located fairly close to the old one, but perhaps go further down the hill towards base village? Still doesn't alleviate issue of easy returns to summit after Honeycomb Canyon runs.

Here's a photo I had handy of the route through Parachute Glade to base of current summit chair. Fun stuff, but not suitable for high traffic flow :-D :

 

[Philadendron]

I find the Honeycomb laps long and arduous, especially as a boarder. Though I have yet to visit during a season where the coverage on navarrone and similar runs coming from the top of Powderhorn into Honeycomb is decent. The closest I've come is lapping the area around the return lift.

To me, the best part of the new lift is one less chair to ride (Sunrise) when lapping Honeycomb without using Powderhorn.

I'm not worried at all about increased traffic. Honeycomb will always have fresh tracks for days. And that's not even counting Fantasy (which I have yet to sample).


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