This past week our class spent time at the Lyndon Outing Club, and at Stowe Mountain Resort. On tuesday morning we helped the Outing Club with a cable splice, while we were restricted from finishing partly due to the weather and counterweight issue it was still a valuable learning experience. It was a perfect example of how things don't always go as planned, especially working with older equipment in less than desirable conditions. On thursday we traveled to Stowe and got an in depth tour of their new lift/storage facility, and ski patrol base. The picture below was taken in the loading station at the base, where construction was taking place.
Seeing all the construction and just listening to everything that they were doing this summer was impressive, as the time to deconstruct and build new structures is limited to the late spring/fall seasons. Another thing worth mentioning was the heating concept that the designers came up with to save energy costs at the top of the mountain. They installed pvc pipes to take the extra heat that the lift provides and bring it to the ski patrol house to heat it and save money and gas in the process. As well as touring the new lift we helped deassemble the old tops of the lift towers for shipment. They were purchased by Mohawk Mountain in Connecticut, one of few places I learned to snowboard at which was cool to hear. Taking the lifts apart, while time consuming, obviously gave me a better understanding of how the whole structure is put together. This was my first time visiting Stowe, and I enjoyed it and hopefully get the opportunity to ride there this coming winter.
