Tower Work

Chair Maintenance has been the theme of the month. With the help of Fjister Mountain Services, we have rebuilt sheave trains on tower 6 and tower 8. The sheave trains are the series of wheels that the rope and the chairs travel over on each tower. We have to remove the trains from the tower, lower them to the ground, to be taken apart, inspected, replace  certain pieces that we had already has machined specially by Poma in France, and make sure that everything else is safe.

To be able to work on the sheave trains, Fjister Mt Services, lifts the rope from the sheaves and then lowers the rope down to let it hang while the sheave train is lowered to the ground. This is all done with "chain come alongs" and levers. Once on the ground, we take the sheaves off the train and transport the unit to PMS's shop were they are able to go through the critical pieces and parts to be inspected and rebuilt with new pieces. Everything is reassembled and hoisted back into place. It is pretty basic stuff, but we are talking about working 20-30 feet in the air lifting very heavy loads and manipulating large pieces of metal. It isn't for everyone and does require some special tools and expertise to accomplish this efficiently and safely. Also I want to be clear, the work being done is maintenance and it is entirely preventative in nature. We cherish the mighty Whaleback Double and want you to have a safe ride to the top of the Whale this winter and every winter.

I loaded more photos of the Tower work onto our Facebook Page if you are interested in seeing them.

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