Industry News
The Siberia chairlift at Squaw Valley, CA is the oldest detachable quad chairlift in the USA.
Squaw has requested a Conditional Use Permit to replace the Siberia chair in 2015. If this permit is granted, Squaw would rip out the old Siberia chair and replace it with a high speed six-pack chairlift.
This would be the first major lift replacement at Squaw since they put in the Big Blue chair in 2012.
The advantages of the new chair:
– It’ll likely get more skiers uphill per hour (2,400 skiers per hour)
– Chairs will be heavier and more likely to run in higher winds
Squaw was granted a conditional use permit by Placer County to replace the Red Dog chair with a high speed six-pack chair back in April 2013. This permit was goo for two years and will expire this April.
Squaw was also granted a conditional use permit by Placer County to replace the the Granite Chief chairlift with a high speed quad. This permit was granted in February 2012 and will expire this February 2015.
It’ll be very interesting to see which chairs Squaw ends up replacing first.
Which chair would you like to see replaced first? Red Dog, Siberia, or Granite Chief?
(we vote for Red Dog)
Siberia needs to go–it’s been there since 1985, has a scary-short bench depth when compared to a newer six pack, and suffers from continual mechanical issues. Plus, it’s deafeningly loud at the base (somehow I don’t think it was so loud when it was new).
I agree, in theory the greatest need is in Red Dog, to help with the lower mtn crowds, but the reality is that Red Dog is at minimum reliable. Siberia is always one step away from breaking down, remember when it was down for two weeks a few years back? I’d love to see a new Red Dog chair but the importance lies in what is the most pressing mechanical need.
SILVERADO!!!!!!!!!!!
I doubt that any of them will be replaced. They are probably pinching pennies after the past three winters, so Red Dog and Granite will probably be untouched, and I have zero doubt that the CUP for sibo is just to try to gain a bit of community Support with all of the crap they have been pulling. This is nothing more than them trying to manipulate a bit of Support for thier cause. Lets not forget that they are still KSL capital running squaw.
Red Dog…when I was coaching the Mighty Mites there was nothing scarier than hanging a hundred feet in the air next to three squirrelly 5 year olds for over 20 minutes 🙂
SVSH seems to have a short-term memory. After 2010-11, they thought, “we need more lower mountain capacity on storm/control days.” So, Red Dog. After 2012-2014 seasons, they thought “we need more upper mountain capacity because it only rains at the base.” So, Sibo. Seems pretty dumb to me but that’s par for the course these days at Disney, er, Squaw.
And yeah, I agree – replace Red Dog. The others (esp GC) can wait. Too bad they are letting the Red Dog CUP expire…
typical! safe enough to hike but not to ride the lift. thanks Squaw! doing what you do.