BEND, OR -- Mt. Bachelor opened its first new lift in seven years, Tuesday morning. Skyliner Express replaces the original four-seater Skyliner lift built in 1989. "It is very difficult to get the parts that you need, if ever something goes wrong on that chairlift," says Bachelor's Lauren Burke, "So it really was the right decision to upgrade as we move into the future of our lift infrastructure."

Skyliner Express is the mountain's first six-pack chairlift. Burke says it increases uphill capacity and the heavier chairs provide better stability, "So, during high winds, the lift can run; whereas some of the other lifts will either need to go on wind hold or slow down." She tells KBND News, "You know, these six-pack lifts are becoming a lot more common. If you look across the industry, this season, there’s a number of high-speed six-pack lifts being put in. So it’s exciting that we were one of those resorts, as well. And, Doppelmayr is a great partner of ours who produces the lift."

Deconstruction of the old lift and construction of Skyliner Express began in May. "Our entire team, the entire construction process, it just could not have gone better. It opened four days earlier than we had initially planned," says Burke. Original four-seater Skyliner chairs were auctioned off to raise money for the nonprofit Vamanos Outside.

When Skyliner Express started spinning Tuesday at 9 a.m., the first chair was occupied by people who won Golden Tickets during a Sunday scavenger hunt. "We had six locals get it," says Burke, "We had a mid-week passholder, we had a mountain bike athlete who found that, a father and son who found two different ones, which was great."

The last new lift at Bachelor was Cloudchaser, which opened December 30, 2016.

Photo courtesy of Mt. Bachelor