Whitefish: Big Mountain Express/Chair 1

Installed in 2007 replacing an older detachable quad Glacier Chaser and reusing it’s towers with extensions, this Doppelmayr UNI-GS detachable quad has been the flagship of Whitefish since it’s installation. It serves nearly all of Whitefish’s terrain excluding the top portion of Flower Point and the Bigfoot T-Bar. Running from the base village to the summit of Big Mountain, the lift is nearly fully loaded most of the day, and is a true workhorse. It runs in the summer for mountain biking, scenic lift rides, and summit house access, it also doubles as a chondola, using the same cabins (with new grips and hanger arms) as it’s predecessor Glacier Chaser. It’s a very standard UNI-GS detachable quad, aside from the gondola cabins in the summer and it’s longer terminal to facilitate that. It uses the double slatted Garaventa style chairs with a back pad over them, Agamatic AG-104 single position detachable grips, and standard Doppelmayr sheaves. It’s the only lift on the mountain (that I know of) to have two backup diesels, a smaller EPU for evacuation only and a V10 Caterpillar for an APU, with a 900hp electric motor, it’s only surpassed by Snow Ghost’s 1,200hp. Overall, it’s the heart of Whitefish’s lift system and they have made no public statement of it going anywhere anytime soon. Manufacturer: Doppelmayr Length: 7,689ft Vertical: 2,087ft Drive: Top Tension: Bottom (Hydraulic) Design Speed: 1,000fpm Recorded Speed: 1,000fpm Capacity: 2,800pph