New Mexico Ski Resort Announces The Completion Of New Lift
The North American chairlift upgrade arms race continues.
Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico, announced late last week, August 25th, that it had finished replacing the Pioneer Lift with a newer model, set to open during the 2023-2024 winter season.
See the Facebook announcement below.
From the caption:
"The brand new Pioneers Lift is officially spinning, chairs and all! Don't hop on just yet though - load testing is underway to make sure she's ready to sweep us off our feet all season long."
While fully operational, the lift still needs to undergo load testing to ensure that it's safe for use.
Pioneer served beginner terrain at Taos and will continue to do so post-replacement, with a slightly altered trajectory that stretches further downhill for easier access. The upgraded lift remains a fixed-grip triple, albeit of newer design and construction.
This wasn't the only lift construction operation at Taos this summer.
The resort is also replacing Chair 4, which accesses terrain in the Kachina Basin area. Once completed, the new and improved Chair 4 will be a Leitner-Poma high-speed detachable quad; its previous incarnation was a slower fixed-grip quad.
Like the Pioneer Chair, Taos intends to open the upgraded Chair 4 next winter.
These lift upgrades are a small tease of Taos' evolving Master Development Plan (MDP), a multi-year project intended to bolster numerous facets of the resort's infrastructure and amenities by constructing new on-mountain facilities, more chairlift replacements, and a base-to-base gondola, among other improvements.
For further information on Taos' MDP, click here.
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