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December 24, 2006 - The first official skiers unload off the Super Chief, which we are able to open in time for Christmas! What a great gift! |
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December 17, 2006 - The Super Chief is all ready to go. Coming soon, a 5 minute ride to the summit! |
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November 17, 2006 - Crews are busy re-grading the land around the drive terminal to ensure for a flat smooth loading area with plenty of clearance for loading of chairs. This is one of the final steps except for adding snow! With temps dropping, we plan to make snow all week in time for our scheduled November 24 opening! |
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November 14, 2006 - The detachable chairs are on and Super Chief has been successfully load tested. Now all we need is snow! This is the view from the top of the last tower near the summit! |
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October 31, 2006 - Senator Bonacic poses at the drive terminal of the new Super Chief chairlift with Superintendent Tony Lanza, Assistant Commissioner of the NYSDEC Jack McKeon, Shandaken Town Supervisor Bob Cross and Shandaken Town Councilman Rob Stanley. |
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October 31, 2006 - It was all treats and no tricks this Halloween for Belleayre Mountain! Senator Bonacic held a press conference in the Discovery Lodge on Halloween to tour the new Super Chief chairlift and to announce additional funding he's secured for the new and improved Discovery Lodge, scheduled to break ground in spring of 2007. |
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October 24, 2006 - The haul rope reaches the summit! Now the crew has to secure the cable to the tower as they begin the process of re-running the lead cable back down to the drive terminal. Once the lead cable is run to the drive terminal, it is reattached to the haul rope and fed around the bullwheel. This is the crux of the operation. Stay tuned!
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October 24, 2006 - The crew at the summit has the pleasure of working the winch with a cold wind howling as it snows sideways!
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October 24, 2006 - The haul rope beginning it's slow journey to the summit. |
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October 24, 2006 - The haul rope, which is spooled near the base of the lift, is spliced to a thinner lead cable to begin the winching process. Once the lead cable is connected to the winch at the summit, the haul rope is then slowly unspooled as it is fed back onto the track of the new towers.
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October 05,2006 - The drive terminal for Super Chief is almost complete. We are ahead of schedule to have our new high speed quad up and running by our scheduled opening date of early November! As soon as temps allow we are going to start making snow, and Farmer's Almanac is predicting a cold year! |
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September 21, 2006 - The view from inside the summit terminal is just breathtaking! |
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September 21, 2006 - Construction on the summit terminal has been completed. |
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September 21, 2006 - Construction has begun on the drive terminal. |
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September 8, 2006 - A new view of mid-station Belleayre Run. Remember the old mid-station terminal of the Super Chief? Looks like it was never there... |
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September 8, 2006 - Now that the upper terminal building is in place, they can start constructing the unloading ramps. The next step is putting in the lower terminal building, running the cables, load testing...then we ski! |
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September 8, 2006 - The upper terminal building is almost complete! |
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August 17, 2006 - Once the bullwheel was in place, the crew worked to attach it to the terminal. The crane will stick around to place the wheels next. |
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August 17, 2006 - Very slowly, the crane hoisted the new bullwheel into place. Maintaining the level and keeping it centered took amazing skills and patience. |
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August 17, 2006 - The Belleayre crew works to attach the bullwheel to the crane. |
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August 8, 2006 - The pieces are all coming together on the new high speed detachable chairlift at Belleayre Mountain! The return terminal has been constructed and the bull wheel is next to be set. |
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August 8, 2006 - The crew works to assemble the return terminal. |
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August 8, 2006 - Every piece of heavy equipment has been utilized to help build the new Super Chief chairlift. |
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August 4, 2006 - The cement trucks were here again, pouring concrete for the base of the Super Chief. |
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July 28,2006 - The pumping truck is controlled remotely, so that the operator can get up next to the action for an accurate pour. |
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July 28,2006 - The concrete had to be poured four feet at a time with 20 minute intervals to prevent the forms from blowing out from the pressure. We had to get 3 full truck loads of concrete to the summit to do the job! |
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July 28,2006 - The 30 yards of concrete that were needed for the two masts had to be pumped from the truck to the tension terminal foundations because of the 17 foot height of the forms. |
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July 28,2006 - The crew begins pouring concrete for the upper tension terminals. 30 yards of concrete were needed for the two masts that will anchor the new Super Chief detachable quad. |
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July 18, 2006 - Our fearless Belleayre crew works to tighten up the communication lines that were put in place last week. |
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July 18, 2006 - Yes, he is hanging over the edge of the tower! You've got to be really confident to do this job... |
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July 12, 2006 - The front and rear masts of the terminal station at the summit are being constructed. |
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July 10, 2006 - The communication lines are being run between the base and the summit. The crew is using ATV's to pull the lines down the mountain, and at each tower, they climb the tower and run the line over it. |
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July 7, 2006 - The bull wheel for the new Super Chief chairlift has been delivered and waits patiently to be set in place. |
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July 5, 2006 - A view of the completed first pour in the return (or tension) terminal at the summit of Belleayre. Next, the vertical steel rods will be the form for a new concrete tower that will hold the bull wheel. |
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July 5, 2006 - The Belleayre crew works to pour concrete into the new return terminal base at the top of the Super Chief chairlift. |
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June 21, 2006 - Here comes the top piece!! Once the tower is in place, the crossarms are flown into place. The workers have to now bolt the second piece to the top of the newly placed tower. |
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June 21, 2006 - Once the tower is set in place, workers have to climb up the tower and unhook the cable. Now they have to wait for the second piece to come. |
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June 21, 2006 - Where is the tower coming from? Actually all the towers are located in the Tomahawk parking lot and then are flown over to the east side of the mountain for placement. |
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June 21, 2006 - The helicopter returns to put in the lift towers. |
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June 6, 2006 - After the final tower footing was poured, we are right on schedule to set the retro-fitted towers on their new footings. The helicopter is scheduled to return the week of June 19th. |
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June 6, 2006 - A miraculous feat of engineering! Concrete was pumped uphill for 450 feet to set the final tower footing. Rising 120 feet in elevation, it was a nerve-racking process to get the concrete the right consistency to pump that distance. This tower anchor was the most difficult to set, as it sits on a 12 degree angle of slope, on the steepest part of Belleayre Run. But rest assured, our boys got it done! |
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June 6, 2006 - The concrete truck arrives to pour the final footing on the new Super Chief chairlift. |
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May 29, 2006 - Another beautiful work day at Belleayre Mountain. |
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May 29, 2006 - Belleayre employees shaping the new tower footings. |
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May 29, 2006 - The concrete truck made the trip to the summit...how'd they do that? |
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May 29, 2006 - The concrete truck arrived to pour the new tower anchors. |
Super Chief News & Views
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May 15, 2006 - Tower anchors are being poured to set the new towers on. |
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May 15, 2006 - Belleayre Mountain employees survey the top of the mountain for placement of new lift towers. |
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May 15, 2006 - Surveying the base site of the new Super Chief loading terminal structure. |
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May 5, 2006 - The new grips for the Super Chief lift arrive. |
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May 2, 2006 - Goodbye old Super Chief! The helicopter arrived and one by one, the towers were flown to the Tomahawk parking lot, where Belleayre Mountain employees guided them to the ground. Fourteen of the twenty eight towers will be retrofitted over the month of May, and the helicopter will return the beginning of June to place the towers. |
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April 10, 2006 - The entire loading terminal structure is removed. |
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April 3, 2006 - The chairs are lined up and prepared to ship out to a nearby ski center who purchased the old lift. |
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April 3, 2006 - The first step in the project was removing the chairs off of the old Super Chief lift. |
