Millions of skiers and snowboarders do it each season: Slide out onto a loading ramp to board a chairlift that will whisk them to the top of their favorite runs and stashes. But how many take the time to learn about how the lift works or what it takes to build one from scratch?

The Brundage Mountain Operations team is giving a behind-the-scenes look at a key step in the construction of the resort’s new high-speed detachable quad, the Centennial Express. Brundage crew members teamed up with professionals from Doppelmayer to splice the new haul rope last week.

Weighing in at 55,000 pounds (more than 27 tons), the new Centennial haul rope is a two-mile-long steel cable that is wrapped around the bull wheels and over the sheaves of the towers, then spliced at each end to form a loop. The haul rope will eventually be held together by friction, so there is no welding point to create the continuous loop. Completing the splicing operation takes many hands working in a highly synchronized effort that can last an entire day.

Here’s a breakdown of the key steps in cable splicing project:

BEFORE THE SPLICE

Brundage Mountain’s internal team started working on the Centennial upgrade project the day after the resort closed for the season in mid-April. The first steps were to clear the snow away from construction areas, remove the old triple chairs from the old haul rope, and start dismantling the lift terminals.

Once the snow receded from the lift line, tower work began. The team started excavating and building forms for the new lift towers’ concrete pads and removing the old towers. Masts were installed, along with the new bottom and top terminals.

From there, Blackhawk helicopters joined the construction efforts. Some of the old towers were airlifted to the base area and concrete was poured for the new pads. Then it was time for the new towers to fly in.

Each of the 16 towers was airlifted uphill in 3 to 5 separate sections. Members of the Doppelmayr installation crew secured each piece as it was expertly positioned by the highly-skilled pilot. Ground crews bolted the tower bases into concrete pads, then climbed the bottom sections of the towers to fasten them together with higher sections. After those pieces were secured, the sheave assemblies were flown in and attached to the top of the towers.

WATCH the towers being airlifted here 

The 55-thousand pound haul rope was transported from a European supplier in shipping containers, then hauled by semi to Brundage Mountain. A 75-ton crane hoisted the rope into place and wrapped it around the bullwheel. After that, a team from Doppelmayer spent two and a half days threading a smaller cable – called a sandline – through the sheave of each tower in the place where the haul rope will eventually come to rest. At that point, they attach the sandline to the haul rope and pull it through. Once the cable is in place and under tension, it’s time for the ends of the cable to be attached to form a loop.

DURING THE SPLICE

It takes a crew of 30 people – with seasoned expert, Jorg Tonett in charge – to splice the two ends of the cable together in what’s referred to as a marriage.

“There are literally only about four people in the entire country that can do what’s happening today,” says Brundage Director of Mountain Operations, Dustin Johnson.

“Our guy Jorg he’s one of those guys. He comes in, he directs the crew of 30 people, made up of both resort and Doppelmayr crews and it’s about an eight-hour long process of taking the six strands from each side of the rope and weaving those together in a pattern that ensures that it will hold up to 150,000 pounds of tension force when it all comes down to it.”

With the cable lifted off the ground on sawhorses, the team members spread out along the 150 feet of cable that will be meticulously intertwined. The cable installer yells instructions down the line, and the team synchronizes their movements to wrap the stiff, heavy strands together.

“He comes in and takes two ends of each strand up and down the center where the two cables come together,” says Johnson. “It’s basically about 150 feet of splice area where the cables intertwine with each other and go in different directions. So it’s like finger cuffs holding you together – holding that cable together.”

Once the haul rope splice is complete, the rigging used to de-tension the rope is removed.  The rope is then lifted up onto the last tower by a gas-powered cable hoist.  There it will stay until it is time for it to be spliced again, which hopefully won’t be for another 10 years.

REMAINING STEPS

With the haul rope in place, all the major mechanical components of the lift are ready for action, but more behind-the-scenes work must be completed before chairs, or carriers, can be put on the line. Several weeks of electrical work and motor programming must be finished before the team can spin the lift.

Once that’s complete, the team will start putting the chairs on the line. After that, load testing and extensive safety testing and training take place before the lift will be open to the public for the start of Winter 2023-24. Johnson says Brundage Mountain has never seen an installation quite like this one.

“The BlueBird detachable lift was installed in 1996, the technology back then and the infrastructure was a lot different. Our guests who are going to be riding this lift this winter are really going to notice what that technology has done over the last 30 years,” says Johnson. “The comfort, the reliability, the speed the ease of loading, you name it, it will just be an all-around upgraded experience to what we’ve seen in the past.”