Hello everyone
I know the Black Bear Chairlift has been the talk of the town lately, and, as you can imagine, this is not how I wanted to kick-off my first winter at Eaglecrest but unfortunately Black Bear will not be operating this winter.
Below, I lay out how we came to this decision, but please know we are also hosting a ‘Black Bear & Beyond’ public forum on November 9th at 5:30 PM at Eaglecrest. I encourage anyone who wants to know more specifics to attend. More details to come about that event.
On my very first day working, the mountain operations team was continuing through their aggressive summer maintenance schedule and discovered a shattered bearing in the drive system of the lift. Normally this is a relatively simple and routine fix, but upon further inspection they found a misaligned drive shaft – which may have been the cause of the broken bearing – and ultimately wear on the gearbox.
The first fix is the quick one: fix the bearing to keep the lift running. This was quickly dismissed as a solution because without investigating what misaligned the driveshaft as well as getting the gearbox professionally examined we run a real risk of the drive system failing this winter and leading to a lift evacuation situation. No one wants that, and we won’t operate a lift that could jeopardize guest safety.
The more comprehensive solution is fixing the bearing, gearbox, and driveshaft. Getting the gearbox and potentially damaged driveshaft inspected and most likely repaired is not fast, easy, or inexpensive. I call this the “throw everything we got at it” solution. These machines are responsible for the safety of our guests, therefore, they need to be inspected and serviced by people who know lift specific operations and mechanisms. Which means having to ship the parts to the lower 48 states to an expert in chairlift gearboxes. The timeline of this process involves a month to ship it, 2-4 months to get it looked over, and a month to ship it back. That does not include disassembling the bottom terminal to get the gearbox out, fixing any damage found in the gearbox or driveshaft, reinstalling them, rebuilding the bottom terminal, and then reinspecting the safety mechanisms of the lift. Meaning if we throw everything at this, assuming the parts are in fact repairable, and supply chains and unknowns don’t slow the process down, we are still looking at Black Bear running again in March or April. That is a lot of resources to risk not getting the lift up and running before May.
There are two more contributing factors to the tough reality around Black Bear. Yes, the “throw everything we have at fixing Black Bear” scenario would get it operational again. However, the design of that lift is an old and outdated layout where the motor room is below the bullwheel. This setup leads to several operational and mechanical difficulties, which is why you don’t see that setup on newer lifts. Therefore, throwing everything we have at this lift, when in reality Black Bear needs a completely new bottom terminal is also not a good use of resources. Which brings me to the final contributing factor. Black Bear is one of four lifts at Eaglecrest of similar age. And they all need time, energy, and funding to ensure they are operational and safe for this winter. If we decided to fix Black Bear even with all the problems described above we would be pulling resources away from the other lifts and operational systems around the resort. If this was any of the other three lifts we would be doing everything we can to have it up and running for the season. But The Hooter and Ptarmigan lifts also had major projects to get through this summer. I need to acknowledge our mountain operations team for throwing everything we had at these lifts to ensure they are ready to go for December 7th.
In conclusion, we all wish Black Bear was going to run this winter. But we do not have unlimited resources of time, people, capacity, and funds. And we would not be able to repair Black Bear to a state that we would feel good about the safety of our guests without pulling these resources away from other, and arguably, more important work. Trust me, if this was one of the other three lifts this would be a very different story.
I appreciate your understanding, and commitment to Eaglecrest. Please feel free to reach out to me and I strongly encourage you to attend the Black Bear and Beyond community forum on November 9th. In-person is always better than phone or email.
Thank you for being a part of Eaglecrest,
Craig
Craig Cimmons
Eaglecrest General Manager
907.790.2000 x 4297
