Concrete Time
With all of the snow melted and the hill dried out, the team from Ruotsala has focused their efforts on getting each of the tower foundations poured. The new lift will have 10 total towers along the line. Tower 1 sits immediately outside the bottom terminal, and Tower 10 is just downhill from the top terminal. Those two tower bases will be excavated and poured alongside their respective terminal foundations. For now, our work has begun at tower 9, near the summit, and is progressing downhill as the access road gets built.
The first step of each tower build is to excavate the tower location down to the precise elevation required according to the size and height of the footing. Once excavated and elevations are verified, soil bearing analysis must be completed to ensure the soil conditions are suitable for the new tower to be placed on. Our friends at Coleman Engineering out of Ironwood perform a series of tests in each excavation to evaluate the soil's ability to bear weight. Once their tests are complete and they give the okay, Ruotsala's team gets to work building the forms for the base of the footer.
After the initial pour is complete and curing has begun, the initial forms are stripped and the work begins to build the cage for the concrete pier. This section contains the anchor bolts that will secure the lift tower to the concrete base. This is a critical portion of the build as each anchor bolt's location needs to be precisely in the right location to align with the pattern specific to each tower. Our project manager from Dopplemayr uses special surveying equipment to verify the correct location of each anchor bolt before the pour is authorized.
Last week (week of May 29th) the footing bases were poured on 9, 8, and 7 while the forms were prepped on 6, 5, and 4. This week (week of June 5th) the concrete trucks will be back on site to pour the piers for 7-9 and the bases for 4-6. The image below shows the approximate location of each tower along the new lift line. If you look closely you can see the access road that has been carved into the hillside to allow concrete trucks to make their way down to each of the tower sites. Getting all of the tower concrete poured will be a huge milestone for the project and if the weather continues to be in our favor, we may see this wrap-up by the end of June.
The new lift is slowly coming to life more and more each day. I truly can't wait to see how it will transform the ski area and look forward to welcoming you all back to the slopes this winter. For now, enjoy the summer weather and if you're in the area, stop by Jack's on Friday or Saturday to check out the progress from the deck while enjoying a nice cold beverage.
See ya out there! - Benjamin
