Ptarmigan - Lake Louise - Leitner-Poma

The History: The original Ptarmigan double was installed in 1966 by Murray-Latta. It ran up the ridge opposite the Larch platter, and greatly expanded Lake Louise's skiable terrain on the Temple side of the resort. The original Ptarmigan chair was a bottom vault-drive Murray-Latta double with center-pole chairs.
In 1991, under the direction of Charlie Locke, YAN replaced the Murray-Latta double with a modern quad chairlift. This quad chairlift featured Aluminum sheaves, a unique YAN design, and typical YAN quad carriers and grips.
The YAN built Ptarmigan quad serviced Lake Louise until 2008. After Charlie Locke purchased Lake Louise back from his former company, RCR, one of Locke's first major projects was to construct a modern lift up Ptarmigan. The current Leitner-Poma quad is a top drive (unlike the YAN quad), and over the years, has served it's purpose well.
Specifications:
Design Speed - 450 ft/min
Normal Operating Speed ~ 450 ft/min
Design Capacity - 2200 p/h
Drive - Top
Return - Bottom
Tensioning - Bottom (Hydraulic)
Towers: 16
Chairs: 135
Recorded on January 20, 2025