Status of the Keechelus Chair at Hyak?

Does anyone here have any idea what's up with the Keechelus Chair at Hyak? Did it open at all year before last?<br><br>I was up there on Sunday and the cable is off on one side at two towers, with a cat of some sort rigged up to the bullwheel. All of this is half buried and looks to have been left in a state of half-repair years ago. It is still on the map but I don't see how they are going to open it this season without a whole lot of digging. Would be nice to have that lift to access Mt Catherine this season...<br>

Does anyone here have any idea what's up with the Keechelus Chair at Hyak? Did it open at all year before last?<br><br>I was up there on Sunday and the cable is off on one side at two towers, with a cat of some sort rigged up to the bullwheel. All of this is half buried and looks to have been left in a state of half-repair years ago. It is still on the map but I don't see how they are going to open it this season without a whole lot of digging. Would be nice to have that lift to access Mt Catherine this season...<br>

<br><br>The Summit replaced the haul rope 2 years ago and now they are re-splicing the cable to take out the slack from the cable stretching. They started this work in mid-October but only this week did they resume. I've been told they dug out the cable a few days ago and finished the splice, but now they need to put the cable back on the sheaves. Its all part of Booth Creeks "wait til the last minute" policy of doing maintenence work. The lift service is suppose to start Dec. 17th.<br>

Update:<br><br>Today the Cat is gone and there were a couple guys with come-alongs and hammers that appear to be getting the work done. The chairs are still laying in the snow, but I'd guess they should be done by the 17th when lift service is suppose to start (hopefully anyway). Since they did no brush cutting this year there are a LOT of weeds all over the slopes (4'-6' brush). A couple more feet of snow should help out with that problem.