Park City Payday Express (Summer/Mid-Station)

IMPORTANT NOTE: I apologize for the rattling on the way up, it was from the sleds for the alpine slides that kinda makes the chair a bit off-center. Payday Express is one of the main lifts rising from the PC Village Base built by Garaventa CTEC in 1997. This lift is one of 4 six packs the manufacturer installed between 1996-1998. Along with Bonanza, it replaced the original flagship Gondola built in Park City’s inaugural season in 1963 which the resort was called Treasure Mountain at the time. Payday also reused most of the old towers from the old Payday Triple since it was removed with the gondola as part of construction. This lift has a mid-station setup for summers only since Payday serves the Alpine Slide and Scenic Rides, but unlike some other lifts with this type, it’s a fixed-grip style mid-station, meaning Payday would creep at an agonizingly short turtle-like pace at less than 200 fpm. I do hope the mid-station gets modified to a half-station detachable in some way so that it can run faster in the summers, and even maybe for some beginner progression in winters as well since there are plenty of options off there. Payday is one of the progression lifts beginners take next after they graduate from the First Time Beginner Area. I think this lift is showing its age but I think they might keep it for a while since it’s already a sixer unless Vail chooses to upgrade it to at 8-pack. Capacity: 3,000 per hour Vertical Rise: 1,278 ft/612 ft to Mid Length: 5,726 ft/2,534 ft to Mid Ride Time: 6.8 minutes/13.2 minutes in summer Towers: 25 Carriers: 93 Design Speed: 1,000 fpm Speed day of recording: 191 fpm Filmed June 30 2026