Waterville Valley to replace two surface lifts with one longer T-bar

Waterville Valley will be installing a T-bar along the side of Lower White Caps. (Waterville Valley)

Waterville Valley is hoping less is more going forward as it will be replacing two short surface lifts with a longer one.

The World Cup T-Bar and Exhibition Poma will be removed, and a longer T-bar will take their place. The project should be completed by Dec. 1.

The loading point will be just above the Tecumseh Express base terminal, 100 feet uphill from the BBTS/WVA Competition Center, and run up the right side (looking up the mountain) of Lower White Caps with the unloading area at the bottom of The Chute.

It will be made by MND Ropeways, the same company that installed the Tecumseh Express for the 2022-23 season. The new T-bar will be 2,226 feet long with a vertical rise of 602 feet – more than a third of the height of the six-pack. It will move 500 feet per minute and have an uphill capacity of 1,100 people per hour.

“This new T-Bar is an exciting investment in our mountain’s infrastructure,” said Waterville Valley president and general manager Tim Smith in a statement. “It will greatly improve our ability to support training camps, race and freestyle programs, and provide enhanced access for recreational skiers.”

Waterville Valley recently moved its primary terrain park from Exhibition to Lower White Caps.

According to the New England Ski History, the vertical rise of the Exhibition platter lift is 346 feet and the World Cup T-bar is 313 feet. Exhibition is the longer of the two lifts at 1,300 feet, longer by a little more than 100 feet.