Purgatory Resort’s main chairlift, Purgatory Village Express Lift 1, went down with a chair-spacing issue Monday but resumed service about 12:45 p.m. Thursday.
Amanda Anderson, marketing director with Mountain Capital Partners, the owner of Purgatory Resort, said crews had to diagnose and fix the problem.
Purgatory’s operations team worked with employees from the maker of the lift, the Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group, to get the six-pack back in operation as quickly as possible, she said in an email.
“Chair spacing is often difficult to diagnose as it could be mechanical, electrical or a software issue, each posing a unique safety concern: Mis-spaced chairs can trip the safety circuit and stop the lift or in severe cases, chairs could stack up in the terminals,” Anderson said.
Purgatory announced on its website at 1:06 p.m. Thursday that the chair was up and running.
During the New Year’s holiday, the same lift experienced a clutch mechanical issue that was fixed.
During maintenance, Anderson said guests could use the Needles Lift (Lift 6), or the Twilight Lift (Lift 4) out of the base area. The Needles Lift can transport three skiers as opposed to six skiers on Lift 1.
parmijo@durangoherald.com