Tamarack - Kimberly - GMD Müller

The History: From it's inception in the mid 1950's, the Kimberly ski area was owned and operated by the town of Kimberly. The Maverick T-Bar was the original lift, with the Buckhorn double following in 1967, followed by the backside Easter chair in 1975, and finally the Yan-built Rosa triple on the frontside in 1990. However, the town of Kimberly sold the ski area to Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, owned by Charlie Locke, in 1998. That year, Charlie Locke had replaced the Mueller-built Larch double chair at Lake Louise with a Leitner high speed quad. In 1999, Locke had Leitner construct the Northstar Express at Kimberly, and Locke moved the original Tamarack double to Kimberly, to serve a new terrain expansion. The lift received new Riblet bail chairs as part of Locke's relocation.
The Tamarack chair not only opened up Tamarack Ridge (the direct terrain it serves), but it also opened up the entire Black Forest to lift served skiing. This lift is an essential part of Kimberly's lift network, although it doesn't seem like it will be going anywhere for the foreseeable future.
Specifications:
Design Speed - 500 ft/min
Normal Operating Speed ~ 500 ft/min
Design Capacity - 1052 p/h
Drive - Bottom
Return - Top
Tensioning - Bottom (Counterweight)
Towers: 14
Chairs: 117
Recorded on December 28, 2024