Hunter - west side lift update

HI All,
Fall is arriving tonight by way of temps in the upper 30's after today's rain and a cold front arrives. Should be a beautifull fall-like weekend for the wine & brew fest.

For anyone interested, the heavy lift helicopter arrives tomorrow for setting the newly galvanized lift towers in place on the west side. The towers are stored in the field across Demmings Bridge & #23A (about 3/4 mile west of the turnoff to #296). Best viewing would be from the top of Ford Hill Rd (off of Wright Rd) just across from Demmings Bridge.
FYI - there is still a one way traffic light setup on 23A between Palenville & Haines Falls.
Windham has lifted its boil water alert and some of the restaurants including Millrock, Chicken Run & the Brewery plan to open tonight/tomorrow after a furious and costly restoration.
Won't be long now until we see some of that white stuff - snow I think its called!
Jon

Some details about the new lift:

Drive Type: Poma Detachable Alpha Drive
Slope Length: 3743' (1141m)
Vertical Rise: 1295' (395m)
Average Grade: 36.85%
Rotation: Clockwise
Primary Drive HP: 600
Line Speed: 5m/s
Number of Chairs: 80
Number of Towers: 15
Uphill Capacity: 2,400 p/h
Chair Interval: 6 sec.
Trip Time: 3.81 min.
Old Z lift and Y lift chairs are available for purchase for your back yard, ski house or condo! Chairs are $250 each, to benefit the Hunter Mountain Racing Foundation to support young athletes in Hunter's racing programs. For more information, contact Bruce Transue.

Construction Progress: Photos here

September 8: Progress continues on wiring and mechanical work on the bottom and top mechanisms. The new roof and enclosure are complete on the bottom mechanism. The new 600hp primary drive motor has been installed in the drive unit, and we're almost ready to set the entire 80 ton unit atop the pedestals at the bottom. We have a 200 ton crane scheduled for next week.

August 31: Luckily, the bottom terminal of the lift was undamaged by Irene. Work is continuing on the roof panels for the accel/decel mechanism.

August 18: Top terminal is being backfilled. Once the new roof panels arrive and are installed, the top and bottom terminals will look much more finished. Most tower foundations have been poured and the remaining difficult-to-reach ones will be poured next week via a concrete pumper. Line towers and tower heads and almost finished and are nearly ready for their helicopter ride into place.

July 28: The top terminal is coming together. Most of the support structure has been assembled, and the bullwheel has been dropped into position, but there are still many, many parts that need to be bolted into place. Line tower foundation work continues down the slope.

July 22: Concrete work on the top terminal is complete. Tower foundations are progressing down Westway. All towers are being relocated, since the tower anchor bolt pattern is larger for the new lift - no foundations can be reused. Nearly all galvanizing has been completed and returned to us. The new electric drive motor has been delivered, and work is starting on the drive terminal unit.

July 7: Foundation work on the return terminal is progressing. The final concrete pour for the top terminal is scheduled for Friday, 7/8. After that, it's down from the top to dig the tower footings.