We recently hosted the USFS Region 2 Leadership Team at Monarch Mountain.  Region 2 includes forests and grasslands in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.  Representatives within the group included Regional Foresters, Deputy Regional Foresters, Forest Supervisors, Forest Deputy Supervisors, the Mountain Resort Program Manager, District Rangers, and other key USFS personnel. As a ski area that is located…

The teams from Skytrac and Timberline Helicopters have our tower foundation forms in place for the new Tomichi Lift in No Name Basin.  Thirteen forms were flown from the parking lot out to the lift line in NNB along with some steel components for the top terminal.  Amazing how quickly and safely this team worked to transport these items from…

The lift tower foundation forms are ready to fly. The crew from Skytrac has worked to build these out in our parking lot since arriving in early May.  There are thirteen foundation forms to fly along with a few other pieces of steel that the team will transport to the ridgeline with the bird.  The pilot from Timberline Helicopters has…

The motor room enclosure for the Tomichi Lift has arrived.  This unit will house the drive system for the new lift and will sit atop the Continental Divide.  Unlike our other matte black lifts here on the frontside of Monarch Mountain, this enclosure will be “Munsell Gray”.  This was the recommended color given to us by the USFS landscape architect…

The team from Skytrac has assembled the first triple carrier for the new lift.  We are using this chair as a prototype to engineer our evacuation device.  The carriers will also include restraint bars and a padded seat when fully complete.  Who is excited to ride one?!

We are spending the bulk of our days out in No Name Basin.  There is a lot of activity going on with top terminal foundation work, tower foundation excavation, timber processing/forwarding, and service road construction.  The Vehicle/Slope Maintenance teams have been installing custom made steel winch anchors.  Our Patrol trail crew has also been hard at work with erosion control…

Usually, we don’t like to see a lift line.  When tower foundations are being excavated for a new lift to open up the backside terrain, it’s a different story.  Brian from All Mountain Construction has been working his way down the lift line this week excavating for each tower foundation.  He should have this task wrapped up in a few…

The Spider Excavator is working its way down the lift line, digging the holes for the individual tower foundations.  There are fifteen towers in total with two of these being integrated with the bottom and top terminals. This machine and its operator are made for the job and handle the majority of tower foundation excavation work in the Rocky Mountains. …

The No Name Basin signage is going up.  The outstanding NNB logo was designed by our marketing team and the installation was handled by the Mtn Ops crew.  These are looking amazing and we can’t wait to see them with snow capped mountains in the background.

Several sheave trains for the new lift in No Name Basin have started to arrive.  These lift components consist of a series of individual sheave wheels that support and guide the haul rope of the chairlift.  The wheels have a groove in the sheave liner that smoothly guides the direction of the haul rope as it moves up and down…