- Local
- Community
- Journalism
Support the independent voice of Denver and help keep the future of Westword free.
The new High Noon Express Lift (Chair 5) at Vail opens a week from today, right after next week's Snow Daze events. The high-speed quad chair replaces the old fixed-grip triple, cutting the ride from twelve minutes down to just under six and increasing the lift's capacity by about 70 percent. Translation? Bye-bye, lift lines! The lift serves the Sun Up and Sun Down bowls and High Noon Ridge, and opens next Friday at at 9 a.m., with the ceremonial first chair going to Pepi and Sheika Gramshammer (Pepi was one of the first to ski the High Noon terrain in the early 1960s before Vail opened its back bowls to the public in 1962).
Via press release:
To celebrate the lift's debut, guests are invited to gather at the top of the lift for complimentary cookies, hot cocoa and commemorative lapel pins while supplies last.
"There is nothing on earth like Vail's Back Bowls on a powder day, and with 70 percent more capacity and half the ride time of the old lift, the new Chair 5 will allow our guests to move quicker up and around the mountain and get even more out of their days," said Chris Jarnot, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Vail Mountain.
Editor's note: In error, we said earlier today that the High Noon Lift was opening today; in fact, it opens a week from today. The mistake has been corrected, and thanks to a reader for pointing it out to us.
Keep Westword Free... Since we started Westword, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Denver with no paywalls.