Load test conducted on new lift at Whiteface Mountain

WILMINGTON — Whiteface Mountain Ski Center fired up the snow guns Monday on the Excelsior, Upper Valley, Lower Valley and Summit Express trails. The ski area plans to open Friday, Nov. 28 for the 2008-09 season. This year marks the debut of Lookout Mountain, Whiteface’s third peak.

Workers at Whiteface Mountain and engineers from Doppelmayr/CTEC, the Salt Lake City-based company that manufactured the chairlift, were busy conducting a “load test” Tuesday at the new Lookout Mountain lift. The load test is designed to make sure the chairlift operates correctly and safely and included testing the braking and auxiliary motors of the chairlift among other tests, according to Assistant Mountain Manager Bruce McCulley.

Mountain employees were busy Tuesday filling boxes with water, giving each chair approximately 600 pounds of weight to simulate people sitting on the chairlift.

“We’re making sure (the lift) is actually able to do what it’s supposed to do,” McCulley said.

He added that an inspector from the state Department of Labor was on hand Tuesday and another inspector was scheduled to arrive to check the lift line for trees that are too close. McCulley said lift preparation is coming down the home stretch and is on schedule to open this season.

—Richard Rosentreter