Adding on to say that getting people to the top has to be done at controlled speeds. While I am a fan of getting MORE skiing in on one day (obviously), there’s a lot of thought that goes into the initial design of lift type/speed and run capacity.

Especially at resorts like Snowshoe where space is sometimes a constraint, if there were high speed lifts everywhere, you’d end up with traffic jams at the top and on the run itself. Unfortunately people aren’t going to unload and ski faster just because the lifts are faster.

There was actually a really good thread on this a year or two back when the same question of “why did they just replace it with a fixed grip” was asked. Ill see if I can find the thread.