Quickdraw Express (4K) - Granby Ranch, Colorado

The Quickdraw Express chairlift, is a high-speed detachable quad chairlift that services the main face of Granby Ranch Colorado. It serves many of the mountain’s green, blue and black diamond trails, and is one of two lifts that travel out of the base area. It was built in 1999 by Leitner, and has some pretty interesting features that make the lift stand out compared to a majority of the other chairlifts in the state of Colorado. In this video, I load at the bottom terminal and travel to the summit. It is a reasonably short ride, but has a lot of great views and vistas of the surrounding mountains and flatlands around the town of Granby.
The Lift:
Prior to 1999, Leitner and Poma were two separate companies that made many fixed grip and detachable systems in the United States. In 2000, that all changed when they merged together under the name Leitner-Poma. Considering that they were (and still are) French companies, it made a lot of sense within the market to do so and prior to when they merged in America, Poma was one of the most popular brands of lift manufacturer in the world. Leitner on the other hand, was still getting its feet off the ground, making only a handful of detachables and fixed grip systems across North America. This resulted in a small number of Leitner-made systems, including “The Flyer” at Jay Peak Vermont, and the Quickdraw Express, located at Granby Ranch Colorado. The Quickdraw lift, (which was the last Leitner lift made before the merger) was made in 1999, and has rare one-leg / SA-4 compact terminals, European Leitner chairs, Leitner grips, sheaves and controls. The drive was also re-built around 2019, following an electrical accident that killed one person two years prior in 2017.
On a happier note, the lift is also open year-round, as many events and concerts are held on the base lodge concourse during the summer. There are also many mountain biking and hiking trails on what seems like every inch of company property.
Lift Information:
Builder: Leitner
Year Built: 2019
Capacity: 2,400 riders/hr
Vertical: 840 feet
Length: 4,360 feet
Design Speed: 1,100 Feet Per Minute / 5.5 Meters Per Second
Speed During Recording: 592 fpm / 3.01 mps
Chairs: 65
Ride Time: 8 - 9 Minutes