Breck’s Colorado SuperChair gets an upgrade

New lift towers arrived via helicopter to Breckenridge Ski Resort today for a significant upgrade to the resort’s Colorado SuperChair – set to open Nov. 7, 2014 in conjunction with Breck’s opening day.

On the heels of launching Peak 6 last season, the ski industry’s most significant terrain expansion in the last decade, Breck is upgrading the Colorado SuperChair from a quad express to a six-passenger express to provide a 30 percent increase in capacity for Peak 8’s primary and most-used lift. It will help disperse skiers to the surrounding peaks.

The installation took about six hours to install the 20 new towers. The heavy lifting was done by a K-MAX helicopter, known for its intermeshing rotors (synchropter) and its ability to lift a payload of over 6,000 pounds (2,722 kg).

The Colorado SuperChair was first installed in 1986 as a high-speed quad, updated in 2002 from a chain drive system to a gear drive system and then again in 2012 with new chairs.  Those quad chairs will be used for upgrades to Beaver Run SuperChair, located on Peak 9.

To see more photos from the upgrade, visit the Breck gallery on Facebook.

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