Vail, Colorado - Chair 5 Open with New High Speed Quad

VAIL, Colorado — Vail pioneer Pepi Gramshammer stepped off the new High Noon Express Lift, Chair 5, Friday morning and could hardly believe what he had just experienced.  “Can you believe this — 48 years,” Gramshammer said.  Forty-eight years — that's how long it's been since he arrived in Vail and contributed to the creation of both the ski resort and the town. His wife, Sheika, who has been in Vail with him the entire time, was by his side again on the chairlift Friday morning.  She joked with those waiting at the top of the lift that there's no more powder back there, now, referring to a lot of the criticism the long-planned lift has received over the years from skiers and snowboarders who worried the high-speed quad will just mean more people will track out the Sun Up and Sun Down bowls.  Pete Seibert Jr., the son of the late Pete Seibert, the founder of Vail, looked on with a huge smile as the Gramshammers and Vail pioneer Morrie Shepard, and his wife Suzie, celebrated the first ride on the new lift.  Seibert Jr. knew his father would have loved to see the new lift.

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