Winds Dash Hopes To Reopen Chairlift Weather Delays Tests Of Schweitzer Lift

After nearly a year of work and $1.2 million in repairs, Schweitzer Mountain Resort’s hopes to open the high-speed chairlift were dashed Sunday by high winds.

Contract engineers spent the weekend loading 400 sandbags onto the lift to test brakes and derailing systems.

But winds stalled work late Sunday as inspectors prepared for a final review of each of the quad lift’s towers.

Weather problems could keep the final inspections from being completed today, said Tim Hinderman, resort general manager.

“If we can (conduct tests), there’s some chance we’ll have it done,” Hinderman said. “If we don’t find things that need fixing, it’ll only take a couple of hours.”

The delays come as the financially troubled ski area experiences its best snow conditions in 10 years.

Snow depth at the top of the mountain is nearly 9 feet - higher than at any point last year. Depth at the bottom is above 90 inches, the highest since 1986, Hinderman said.

The quad lift - so-called because each chair can carry four people - can whisk as many as 2,400 skiers an hour to the mountain’s peak. It also reduces the time skiers spend standing in line.

The mountain’s half-dozen two-person lifts can handle, at most, 800 skiers an hour.

But mountain managers said the great snow may be keeping skiers’ frustration at bay.

“Obviously people would prefer the quad, but without it, the skiing’s been so good people have been happy,” he said.

The quad lift was shut down 10 months ago after the manufacturer said some of its casted metal parts were flawed. Schweitzer hired Dopplemayr, an Austrian company, to rebuild the lift.

The months of repairs were completed more than a week before Christmas, but heavy winds repeatedly prevented any testing. Winds Friday and again Sunday afternoon were strong enough to close the entire mountain.

Trying to make the best of the delays, Hinderman said the closures also had an upside.

“That means at least two of the last three days when the quad wasn’t running, we haven’t had people here either,” he said.

, DataTimes