Hi Folks,
This blog posting is intended to help communicate the unique challenges we face opening Cascade Express after a storm.
Many of the circumstances that you will read about and see in this blog can and do occur on all our chairlifts simultaneously but Cascade Express and Vista Express experience these conditions more often.
The first thing you may think is – don’t all ski areas have to deal with this? Well, some ski areas do have similar conditions but Mt. Hood experiences them more often and more severely. Our lift manufacturer has told us that Mt. Hood is unlike any other ski area in Europe and the Americas. There is one resort in New Zealand that is similar from their perspective. This is due to our location next to the Pacific Ocean and how there is little between this volcano and Japan. Also Meadows and Timberline are oriented on the southerly aspect of Mt. Hood, taking a direct hit from the most aggressive storms. Enough on that, these circumstances also bring copious amounts of wonderful snow. This is the Mt. Hood we all know and love.
For brevity, I’m going to limit this blog to just talking about the challenges on Cascade Express although I will post a few pictures of other lifts that show other challenges we face such as the Shooting Star tree incident that happened in December, 2005.
Many different departments and highly skilled employees have many different tasks that are necessary to complete safely in order to open Cascade Express after a storm. None of these tasks can start until visibility allows access. It can take hours or even days to recover from one storm event. This is why sometimes you will see fine weather up above and the lift is not loading public.
Grooming Department: This includes more than just grooming the runs. Giant drifts of snow, mainly on Boulevard, have to be smashed down first. The snow road from the top terminal out to Texas Trail has to be re-established to complete the "climbing route" (in deep snow, snowcats have to make clockwise loops up Texas trails because the cats can’t drive straight up the runs – other times its possible to climb). Some of the most time consuming projects are removing the giant drift from in front of the top terminal roll-up door, building the platform you see after you ski out of the building at the top terminal and dozing the snow out from under the lift line for adequate ski-under clearance (under hundreds of yards of lift line). The man-door is buried and requires shoveling to access the inside of the terminal.
Ski Patrol Department: Several avalanche control routes have to be completed. Since the lift is not operational (more on that in a minute), the patrol rides up in the snowcats to gain access to run their routes. Hand tossed explosives are the weapon of choice and ski cutting has to occur on many routes.
Lift Maintenance Department: Cascade Express is equipped with what is called a "night drive". This allows the rope to run on a smaller and more efficient electric motor all night without the chairs (which have been removed and parked in the lower terminal building before the storm). The night drive keeps the rope moving which turns the sheaves (the wheels you see on the assemblies on each tower). This is intended to keep everything free of ice and snow – in theory.
This works pretty good until we get a major ice storm. When this happens, the sheaves get so heavily coated that they stop turning, the night drive stops on overload, and the rope can collect over a foot diameter of ice. All the sheaves, assemblies, cross arms, and the tower ladders become encased in rime ice at this point.
Sometimes the sheaves stop turning due to ice while the rope keeps moving. The rope then saws through the sheave all the way to the axle. Safety switches (Brittle bars and CPS switches) are torn off that have to be rewired and reinstalled. Those parts all need to be replaced. [:)]
The process of "de-icing" the lift starts with several highly skilled and gutsy guys who climb each tower banging ice off each ladder rung as they go. Their weapon of choice - a brass hammer. When they get to the top of the tower, they bang the rime ice off the cross arm assembly and work their way out to the sheave train. They then climb out and bang all the ice off each sheave.
Once this is all completed then they start working on de-icing the haul rope. Several staff members are positioned at the top terminal, bottom terminal, and at the tops of the towers. While communicating with radios, they "bump" the rope in small measured starts and stops while hammering away at the ice. This can take lots of time to deice the entire rope.
View the movie.
I've also posted a movie you can view if you have Windows Media Player. It was shot this season at Cascade Express by a 22 year member of the Lift Maintenance Department – Jim Carney, Master Lift Technician. Thank you for everything you do Jim.
Lift Operations Department:These members of the staff assist in many of the Lift Maintenance tasks to help speed things up – besides their normal set-up and pre-operational check lists procedures.
You should be aware that the other detachable lifts (Vista Express, Mt. Hood Express, Shooting Star Express, and Hood River Express don’t have a building to keep the chairs in. The main problem this creates is the ice build-up on the detachable grips and the chairs themselves. This extends the amount of time to de-ice these lifts when that occurs. Our detachable lifts have between 80 and 120 chairs each. Detachable grips don’t open and close and don’t go through the mechanisms at the terminals when they are encased in a solid block of rime ice.
Cascade Express takes about 45 minutes to "launch" the chairs after everything has been de-iced. Each detachable also takes about 20 minutes to go through the required safety checks before loading public. This is why you often see a lift turning in the morning with no public allowed to board.
You should also know that these conditions are the reason that Timberline takes the Palmer Express Chairlift out of service for the winter months. They have decided that it is too costly and too sever to deal with conditions like this. It is certain that the Palmer lift is even more exposed than Cascade Express due to its more southwesterly orientation and elevation. Cascade Express is somewhat protected by the ridge to the south we call Texas Trail. Timberline’s Lift Maintenance Department actually removes the wire rope from the sheave assemblies and hangs it with huge chains from the cross arms, tying the rope to the towers. This is to avoid complete destruction of the cross arms and sheave assemblies. At this point, I would estimate there is probably 3 feet diameter of ice on the Palmer rope when I’m writing this blog. They used to try and keep it going during the winter but after towers actually getting knocked to the ground due to heavy ice build up on the rope, cross arms, and sheave assemblies, the decision was made to keep the lift closed during the main winter months to protect the structure. It’s a wise decision I’d say considering the Palmer Express location.
The Summit Express chairlift at Mt. Bachelor experiences many of these same issues also. This is the reason that lift has delayed openings also. Although its orientation to the prevailing storm track is different.
I hope this blog has been informative. I’m sure that some people think that "all we need to do is put more resources and money into opening the lift." The reality is that we are allocating a tremendous amount of resources to get Cascade Express open as early as possible. We are physically limited on when we can access the area to start the work, and it takes many hours to do what has to be done.
Sometimes we go through all this work and still can’t open the lift due to continued high winds or a lack of visibility. Often when you stand at the bottom terminal and see the chairs on the rope and the lift is not loading public it’s because the lateral chair swing on just the top few towers is too dangerous. You would have no way of knowing that while you stand at the bottom and look eagerly at the snowfields above.
Cascade Express is a top priority for us. We approach this work on a Tuesday the same as on a Saturday. There is no difference in the urgency to get it open any day of the week. Just like Heather Canyon.
Since many of the Mt. Hood Meadows staff members also read this blog, I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize the fine work of the men and women who make this happen. In particular, I want to thank the entire Lift Maintenance Department as well as Steve Warila, Director of Mountain Operations and Planning and Tom Scully, Lift Maintenance Manager for providing the leadership and commitment to keep Cascade Express alive and well. I also want to thank the entire Grooming Department and Rob Gayman, Grooming Manager for spending countless hours in total white out conditions to try and stay on top of the dozing projects at Cascade. I also want to thank the entire Ski Patrol Department and Mel Toney, Ski Patrol Manager for never sacrificing our public’s safety when it comes to AC work. I want to thank everyone in the Lift Operations Department including Monte Day, Lift Operations Manager for all your coordination and assistance – the lift would not run without you and the team. I can’t forget Mark Thompson, Area Maintenance Manager and Steve Kroon, Vehicle Shop Manager and your crews for all the support you lend also. Thank you all.
I met with a group of long-time Meadows supporters from the Schnee Vogeli Ski Club last week. They wanted to share some thoughts and ask some questions about ski area operations. These guys pull no punches! Some of them have had season passes since 1967. After discussing Cascade Express and all it takes to open it, they suggested that we do a better job communicating the reasons why the lift is not open. We’ve been exploring that internally also and have decided to install a LED reader board at the bottom terminal this summer so we can update our guests with messages via a computer in the Lift Operations Dispatch Office. It costs $8,000 but it’s a good idea. I hope to have that for next season.
I’m interested in your feedback. Please post a comment expressing your thoughts to the community.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog and thank you for your loyalty to Mt. Hood Meadows.
Sincerely,
Dave Riley, General Manager
P.S. In case you missed it above, here's that link to the MOVIE. It is really quite dramatic and I am proud to be associated with all of these incredibly committed staff members.
Hi Folks,
I recently had someone email me asking if we could do some tree thinning to create better gladed terrain. Specifically, the request was for Jack’s Woods to be thinned. Coincidentally, this is an opportunity that I’ve really been thinking a lot about lately.
Many resorts have substantial areas that have been thinned to improve their tree skiing terrain. Some of the best tree skiing I’ve ever seen is at Aspen. These areas, like the Face of Bell at Aspen Mountain, were thinned out by the Aspen Ski Corp., while leaving some nice big old trees. Steamboat also has vast areas of gladed terrain that is unforgettable.
Tree skiing has really not been developed in the Pacific Northwest, for some unknown reason. Ski areas in Washington and Oregon have clear cut ski trails but few developed glade areas.
During a snowstorm, I personally feel there is no better place to be than in the woods. There are lots of locations that could be gladed at Mt. Hood Meadows such as areas off of Mt. Hood Express, Hood River Express, Shooting Star Express, and lower Heather Canyon.
From an environmental point of view, this can be done with minimal impact on wildlife habitat, streams, wetlands, etc. Actually, it can even “improve” forest health. The forests at the Meadows have been fire-suppressed for almost 100 years. That’s not natural and is one reason why the tree blocks are so crowded. Thinning and controlled burns are a way to address this while simultaneously improving skier habitat.
Thinning also allows sunlight to reach the forest floor and promotes huckleberry growth. By the way, you might be interested to know that the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs have been using the Mt. Hood Meadows area for 40,000 years, primarily in the summer and fall months – and huckleberry habitat is very important to them. They used to set the forest on fire in the fall at Mt. Hood Meadows as they left the area to winter down south at Warm Springs. This was done so frequently that the fire would remain fairly cool and low, creeping around the larger trees but burning out the smaller whips that choked out the sunlight. This all promoted much more huckleberry growth.
You can see that I’m in favor of the concept of expanding our gladed terrain for a number of compatible reasons. As with anything we do on the ground at Mt. Hood Meadows, we have to propose it to the Forest Service and go through a process that usually takes lots of time and money. It’s helpful to get a feel from our guests if you are excited about a recreational opportunity or not when evaluating whether to pursue something like this.
What’s your opinion? If you’re in favor of it, where would you like to see it done first? If you’re not in favor of it, why not?
As always, I appreciate your input.
Dave Riley
General Manager