Ellicottville, NY – Holiday Valley’s new Morning Star High Speed Quad chairlift passed the New York State Department of Labor load test on Thursday. This was the final step of the construction of the western New York ski resort’s new $3.5 million lift which began last May.nTwenty-six of the 58 chairs were loaded with 935 pounds each to approximate the weight of four people in each chair. The total testing weight was 24,310 pounds, which is more than 12 tons. The lift was operated in forward and backward modes then the brakes, backups and auxiliary motor were tested. Safety switches and tower circuits were also tested. Everything passed inspection by the New York State Department of Labor and by representatives of Doppelmayr CTEC, the Salt Lake City, Utah company that manufactured the lift.

The lift uses a 300 horsepower electric motor to power 56 chairs at a speed of 1,000 feet per minute over a distance of 2,530 feet up 562 vertical feet to the top. The capacity of the lift is 2,400 people per hour. Despite being almost 30 percent longer, the lift ride will be just 2½ minutes, which is half the time of the old lift.

Holiday Valley Mountain Manager Jim Curtis led the Holiday Valley mountain crew in the construction of the lift. Holiday Valley is one of only a few ski areas in the country to construct their own lifts. The advantage is that the mountain crew is familiar with every aspect of the lift and can maintain the lift properly and make repairs efficiently.

The project started on May 1st with the removal of an existing four-person fixed grip chairlift, and demolition of the concrete tower bases and lift terminals. Holiday Valley plans to use the lift that was removed to replace the SnowPine double chairlift for the 2011-12 season. The base terminal of the new lift begins at a lower elevation on the mountain, adjacent to the base of the Eagle chairlift. The new alignment takes a slightly different path up the mountain resulting in only two lift towers on the Morning Star slope. Skiers and riders will also be able to ski the lift line under the new chair. New terrain was added to accommodate the longer length of the lift and additional lights were installed for night skiing to the base of the lift.

A Grand Opening celebration for Holiday Valley guests will be held once the resort opens for the ski and snowboard season.