Sierra At Tahoe Fire Updates
With a brand new haul rope + communication line on Sierra's most iconic lift, Grandview Express continues to be a symbol showing the damage incurred, and the rebuilding occurring as each obstacle is overcome. Sierra has issued a post fire update, they say:
A 14 member crew set out to patch the two lines that were damaged from the heat of the fire between towers 10-18 and tower 3 to the bottom lift terminal, a task that would take 3 days to complete. With clear weather and favorable temps, the crew devised the plan which would require two snowcats to carry the massive spool to the top of Grandview, to be threaded over the lift frame of the tower head. The comm line is a critical piece that carries the data signals from each tower's safety and operating circuitry, as well as phone lines between the base, summit and mountain dispatch, and can generally be seen running down the middle of the lift.
In order to access the particular part of the mountain, known affectionately by Sierra loyalist as “hollywood line” above Lower Dynamite, the crew would need to load the chairs and complete a lift evac, to rappel down to the steep sections as access with the necessary equipment over the varying snow conditions would create its own challenges.
A winch cat, on loan from Pisten Bully, would be required to pull a separate snowcat equipped with a custom sled carrying the comm line spool up the mountain. Once the crew was on foot, the spool stationed at the top of Grandview would be pulled by hand and run down the mountain to be threaded over each tower, simultaneously as 3 mechanics leapfrogged each other from tower to tower for time efficiency.
Billy goating over rocks and traversing through variable snow conditions, making their best effort to not post hole through the snow and endure the laughter from their fellow crew members, the two damaged comm lines were successfully strung.
Some lift mechanics can go their entire career without ever completing a comm line patch, but by the time Sierra is able to have all of our lifts back online, this team will have completed 12 on 7 different lifts. We will only get better, faster and more efficient with each completed repair. Although the nuances of each lift will present their own unique challenges, with these 14 crew members on the task, it is just another day at the office.
