Timeline

Feb 27, 2025 - Noise in the lift machinery 

Mountain Ops team identified gearbox bearing failure as the source and made the decision to shut down the chairlift in order to avoid a catastrophic failure.

Feb 28, 2025 - Pfister Mountain Services came to Whaleback to evaluate the lift 

Pfister Mountain Services evaluation confirmed the following:

1. The bearings in the gearbox need replacement.  

2. Replacing the bearing requires removal and rebuilding of the gearbox. 

3. This will require the following:

   • Remove roof from lift building

   • Remove cable from bull wheel

   • Bring in crane to remove bullwheel from lift

   • Remove gearbox with crane

   • Send to specialist company for rebuilding, expected to take 8-10 weeks

   • This work is on schedule with Pfister Mountain Services for July.

March 11, 2025 - SkyTrac Lifts met with Jon Hunt, and several board members to assess the current situation and discuss options for modernizing the chairlift. 

• Previously considered option of staged replacement is not feasible given incompatibility with current and newer lifts.

• New replacement lift estimated cost $3-4 million

March 12, 2025 - Email sent to the community announcing the situation to the Whaleback community

• The recommendation is to make critical repairs to the existing lift needed to provide top to bottom skiing for the next 2-3 seasons.

August 29 - Pfister Mountain Services removed Gearbox from Lower Lift Terminal. Gearbox sent to sub contractor.

December 1, 2025 - Gearbox and bull wheel donated by Holiday Mountain are installed.

March 6, 2026 - After significant work mating the donated gearbox to the old lift, the lift passed load testing and is licensed to operate!