Woodstock
The South Pomfret ski area is in the process of replacing its aging main chairlift with a bigger lift that will increase the number of people that can reach the top in any given hour.
“It was time,” Woodstock Inn and Resort Sales and Marketing Director Courtney Lowe said by phone on Thursday. “We have been talking about it for a few years, and we just happened to be able to get the opportunity to replace it this year.”
The inn owns and operates the ski area.
Workers already have taken down most of the 1976 Borvig double chairlift that has been a main feature at the 100-acre ski area for decades.
In its place will go a brand-new quad chairlift built by Leitner-Poma of America Inc., a Colorado-based company that has lifts at several other Vermont and New Hampshire ski areas.
The old lift, with 85 chairs, brought about 1,200 people an hour to the top of the mountain. The new lift, with 65 chairs, will carry about 1,800 people an hour to the summit. Though capacity will increase, the ride to the top will take about the same amount of time.
The new lift comes at a price tag of $1.5 million, and will be funded through a grant from the Laurance S. Rockefeller Fund, according to a news release issued by the inn last month.
Metal from the old lift has been scrapped, and some of the chairs may go up for auction, Lowe said. Details on that still are in the works.
Most of the old lift already has been taken down, and starting early next month, workers will begin digging holes for the new lift towers.
The new towers, all eight of them, will be put into place on the mountain’s side by helicopter.
Mountain Manager Gerren Goodwin said on Thursday the new lift is slated to be in operation by the time Suicide Six opens for the season around Christmas break.
“I think the community should be really excited,” Goodwin said. “It is like going from a rotary phone to an iPhone.”
“We are very excited about investing in Suicide Six for the long term,” Woodstock Inn and Resort President and General Manager Gary Thulander said by phone on Thursday. “It is a community and regional ski area that has a lot of loyalty and generations of skiers.”
The ski resort had problems with the aging lift last season, and was ordered on more than one occasion to close it for repairs out of safety concerns.
The new lift will not only bring peace of mind, but it will afford the ski area the opportunity and ability to expand in more ways than one. Workers have the option of adding additional chairs to the liftline to carry even more people up the mountain.
In addition, the lift has the ability to haul mountain bikes, which means workers could add summer activities to the list of things to do at Suicide Six.
“There are endless possibilities,” Goodwin said. “Our future is wide open.”
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.