Star Lifts USA builds first Moving Carpet with hydraulic lifting device for the entire line
At Mt. Hood Meadows (OR), Sunkid and its sister company Star Lifts USA were faced with an unusual task. In the beginner terrain of the largest ski area in the state of Oregon, an existing rope lift with height adjustment was replaced by an 84-meter-long ski conveyor. Due to the large amounts of fresh snow of up to 15 meters throughout the winter, Star Lifts USA, in cooperation with Gmuender Engineering LLC, developed a hydraulic lifting device for the Sunkid Moving Carpet. The entire 84-meter track can be hydraulically lifted for easy adjustment to snow depth.
Year after year, Sunkid (Star Lifts) is faced with challenges that require an innovative solution. Last year, for example, the first conveyor belt was installed on supports up to 12 m high in Keystone (CO). This winter, Sunkid (Star Lifts) installed the first Moving Carpet with hydraulic lifting device for the entire 84-meter stretch!
15 meters of fresh snow
At Mt. Hood Meadows, record snowfall amounts are measured winter after winter. Up to 15 meters fall during the entire winter season. This makes it imperative for operators to be able to adjust installed equipment to accommodate snow depths. What Sunkid (Star Lifts) has already installed several times on the Mega Star and Swiss Cord lift systems has now also been successfully implemented on an 84-meter Moving Carpet.
Six towers, each with a hydraulic lifting device of 2.4 meters, were erected at 15-meter intervals on the children's area. The Sunkid Moving Carpet was then placed on an iron construction. Thus, the conveyor belt reaches a maximum height of 3.4 meters when completely raised.
Already in the first winter season 2009, the Sunkid Moving Carpet at Mt. Hood was pushed to its limits. Over the course of the winter season, the conveyor belt was steadily raised and adjusted to the amount of snow. The record amounts of snow required the Moving Carpet to be raised up to 3.4 meters by hydraulically raising it.
No snow cleaning due to Sunkid Gallery
Due to the large amounts of fresh snow, the decision was also made at Mt. Hood Meadows to install the Sunkid Gallery conveyor canopy. This makes commissioning easier, as there is no need to clear snow from the conveyor belt. Furthermore, the conveyor roof protects passengers from wind, rain, snow and cold. Exits are located on the sides every 1.8 m, which can be opened or closed quickly and easily by means of a self-retracting PVC tarpaulin.
Due to the proven modular construction it is possible to follow concave-convex terrain even with the gallery conveyor roofing. A 3 mm thick UV-resistant polycarbonate pane is inserted into the aluminum profile of the gallery. This has already been tested for wind speeds of up to 120 km/h and a snow load from above of up to one meter. In the meantime, over 7,000 meters of the Sunkid Gallery have been successfully used all over the world in a wide range of conditions.
The experience after the past winter at Mt. Hood Meadows has been very positive. The hydraulic lifting of the Sunkid Moving Carpet went as planned throughout the winter. Sunkid congratulates the customer at Mt. Hood Meadows and Peter Kavanagh, Marc Wood and Joe Gmuender from sister company Start Lifts Inc. for the truly perfect implementation of this unique project.
