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Sun Up Lift replacement begins on Vail Mountain

Vail Mountain has begun construction to replace the Sun Up Lift (Chair 17) with a new high-speed quad chairlift.
Vail Mountain | Special to the Daily |

VAIL — While Epic Discovery, Vail’s new on-mountain summer experience, is fully operational, Vail Mountain is looking toward winter and the coming ski and snowboard season. With the July 1 end of the annual elk-calving closure on portions of Vail Mountain, the resort has begun construction to replace the Sun Up Lift (Chair 17) with a new high-speed quad chairlift. The new Sun Up Express, which will be designated lift No. 9 in its new incarnation, will reduce wait times, improve skier and snowboarder circulation and marks the ninth chair replacement in the last 10 years at Vail. All of the major lifts at Vail are now high-speed.

Taking Pressure Off Chair 5

“The new Sun Up Express will dramatically improve how our guests are able to move across Vail’s legendary Back Bowls, especially on powder mornings as they head toward the terrain of the China Bowl complex and Blue Sky Basin,” said Chris Jarnot, Vail’s chief operating officer and executive vice president. “The 65 percent increase in capacity will also take pressure off of the High Noon Express (No. 5) with more guests using the new lift rather than cycling back to the bottom of the bowls.”



The new Sun Up Express provides access to advanced terrain in Sun Up Bowl and disperses skiers and snowboarders to other terrain in Vail’s Back Bowls.

Vail Mountain is scheduled to open for the 2016-’17 ski and snowboard season Nov. 18.


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