Bristol Mountain continues its philosophy to stay ahead of the curve regarding state of the art equipment updates. The installation of the Galaxy Express is the largest capital project we have ever undertaken at Bristol Mountain. In fact, this lift is the only detachable that is being constructed this summer in the Northeast which demonstrates our ongoing commitment for continual improvement of our facility. During the summer, we began construction of the Dopplemayr CTEC High Speed Detachable Quad Chairlift which is located on the Upper and Lower Galaxy slopes. The Galaxy Express will enable our guests to ride from the base to the top of the mountain in approximately four quick minutes. It will replace the mid-mountain triple Galaxy Chairlift and span the full length of the mountain. This is the second detachable lift installed at Bristol Mountain since 1999. The benefit of a detachable lift system is that as the chair arrives at the “loading and unloading terminals”, it slows down to one-fifth of the uphill speed which enhances the ease of loading and unloading guests.
This year, trail modifications have been made to Upper Galaxy which has been extended further to the top of the mountain to accommodate the Galaxy Express unloading area. A new Shuttle trail has been constructed which starts at the top of the Galaxy Express unloading area extending south to Upper Rocket. Shuttle will be open depending on a natural snow base during the day as there are no lights or snowmaking on Shuttle this season. Rocket Hilltop (patrol building) has been relocated to the Rocket Triple Chair unloading area and will be utilized for an additional patrol facility. This has not only allowed us to widen the popularly-used access trail to Upper Rocket but has also enhanced the spectacular northern vista view.
There have been several other improvements made at the mountain this summer including infrastructure expansion to our electrical distribution system leading the way for additional snowmaking capabilities in the future, completely refurbishing the seasonal locker room in the Sunset Lodge, as well as significant upgrades in technology with respect to hardware and software to improve our efficiency while offering our guests greater convenience and additional products. Visit bristolmountain.com to view the new web cam located at the base of the Galaxy Express!
It has been a very busy summer for our staff. We look forward to the start of the new 2009-10 operating season and are excited to ski and ride with you this winter!
