Mt. Ashland reopens Ariel chairlift after extensive repair

Published 5:00 pm Thursday, December 26, 2024

Following more than a month of repairs and rigorous testing, Mt. Ashland has reopened its Ariel chairlift for the ski season.

Ariel Chair began the season offline due to a tree falling on the lift Nov. 22, according to a release issued by the nonprofit ski area. The tree hit the downloading side of tower eight, destroyed the lift’s sheaves and halo, damaged the lift’s sheave train and rested on the lift cable under tension.

The repair began with a more than 11-hour tree removal involving professional tree fallers carefully navigating the hillside, snow, and cable tension complexities.

The damaged sheave train needed to be completely rebuilt using new sheaves, according to the ski area. Complicating the rebuild, however, were bushings for the new sheaves that needed to be custom fabricated and the tower halo needing to be rebuilt in the shop.

The ski area followed guidelines set by the American National Standards Institute and the chairlift’s engineer for the repair, and underwent an elaborate process of inspecting the cable by detensioning and retensioning the chairlift.

The ski area praised the “outstanding work” of its lift maintenance team in the release announcing the Ariel Chair’s reopening.

“It is difficult to balance this repair work while four other lifts are operating — all while also bringing a new chairlift online,” the Mt. Ashland release issued Thursday states. “Mt. Ashland Ski Area is incredibly grateful for the team’s diligence, dedication and hard work.”

For more information about lifts, hours and upcoming events, see mtashland.com.