We are working to install the power line for the new lift into No Name Basin. This lift will be a top drive system, which means that the motor room will be located at the top of the lift instead of the bottom. All of our other aerial lifts have a bottom drive terminal. There currently is some low voltage power nearby at the top of Breezeway that provides heat and lights in the current top lift house and the Ski Patrol building. But this is not enough voltage to operate a ski lift off the backside of the mountain.

In order to power the new lift, we must run a high voltage line from the nearest electrical transformer on the mountain up to the top of the ridge.  The shortest and most direct line is from the high voltage transformer located at the bottom of the Panorama lift and directly up the B’s Bash ski trail.

Our local crew over at Lowry Contracting took on the task of driving a dozer with a ripper hook down the steep B’s Bash trail.  This machine digs a trench as it descends while laying the large diameter conduit at the same time.  An excavator then comes in behind to reestablish the water bars and clean things up along the way. Our team will then reseed the area and install additional erosion control measures to cover the disturbance area.

The power lines are then pulled through the conduit and tied into a few junction boxes along the way between the top and the bottom.  A new transformer will be installed near the top of Breezeway behind the wooden snow fence and the system is then tied in together. The electric feed will be extended over to the new lift terminal next summer as the lift is being built.  This is a powerful first step to take in the No Name project!