Chairlift airlift aids Magic installation

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC

The installation of the Black Line Quad took a giant step forward last week as Magic Mountain in Londonderry got some airlift support, said SkiMagic President Geoff Hatheway.

The resort called on FairLifts, a national company that provides a number of helicopter services including aerial cranes. On Tuesday Nov. 5, FairLifts sent a Sikorsky S-61N helicopter with a lift capacity of 8,000 pounds and the work began.

The fixed quad chairlift, which was purchased from Stratton Mountain in early 2018, consists of 19 support towers. Hatheway told The Telegraph that, with the help of the helicopter, the resort was able to put up all of the towers — including the tower tops — within six hours.

The alternative would have been to take each tower up the mountain individually and raise it into place with a crane, which would then have to be moved to the next position. That work could have taken days or even weeks, he said. And timing is important since Magic would like to have the quad in service this season.

The quad lift will replace the old Black Line Chair, which gave up the ghost in recent years and had to be replaced. But moving the path of the lift east and extending it to the top of the mountain will allow the “new” Black Line Quad to discharge skiers where they can ski down either side of the mountain. In the past, the shorter Black Line limited the paths that skiers could take.

When the quad is in place, Magic will havein operation two lifts to the top of the mountain and one mid-mountain lift. Even with the air support the schedule remains tight but the resort is still shooting for opening the new lift during the Christmas holiday.