Bridgton, ME – Shawnee Peak Ski Area will install Maine’s first loading conveyor system this summer at the bottom of its new top-to-bottom CTEC Summit Chairlift.nThe new Summit Triple Chair, which is being installed this summer, will feature a Emmegi Conveyor Loader. The new system will allow the chair to run at 525 feet per minute – approximately 25% faster than the old Summit Triple. Users will wait behind a gate and, when it’s their turn, simply slide forward onto the moving conveyor, which will automatically load the skiers onto the faster-moving chair.

Ski area operators who utilize similar loading systems have discovered that “stops and slows” decrease by more than 50%, giving the riders a much faster ride up the mountain.

“With a faster speed and fewer stops and slows, the new Summit Triple Chair is a monumental improvement to the skier experience,” says Shawnee Peak owner Chet Homer. “The use of this loading system will provide uphill capacity similar to that a high-speed chair at a significant cost savings.”

Emmegi Ski, a European company, is the manufacturer of the technology and has installed hundreds of conveyor systems in Switzerland, Italy and France. While American ski areas have recently begun to embrace the new technology, Shawnee Peak’s loading conveyor system will be the first of its kind installed in Maine.

The new lift is scheduled for load testing by Labor Day.