My experience after having ridden the Knob Chair over Reading Week:
It's definitely way better than before, the chair doesn't make you feel like you're taking some rickety, old, crumbling heap of rubble up to the highest parts of the mountain. So not a super high bar, but still definitely an improvement. The chair is still quite slow however, they made a big deal about how it would be a fast, modern lift and it's definitely not one of those things. It's faster than the old Knob and than the Eagle Ridge Chair, but I'd say it's definitely slower than every other lift, including Canadian Rockies, Paradise and Eagle Quad. I've never rode a lift that starts you out on a Magic Carpet and it was definitely weird for the first couple runs, I did get used to it after a while, but the chair does tend to sneak up on you a bit if you aren't paying attention when getting on. It doesn't actually go that much higher than the Old Knob chair, not as much as I thought it would at least. It's still a good way from the peak. It also has footrests, but they're extremely tiny and awkward to use. I also found that the sensor they use to open the doors when you have to get on the Magic Carpet to get on the chair, doesn't always work the best, there were a few times where chairs went by empty because the sensors just didn't pick up that somebody was there, you have to jam your knees hard into the gates to make it sense you, I frankly don't understand why it even uses a sensor instead of just opening the gate whenever the chair comes by. You also have to be extremely fast getting past the gate because it closes super quickly, there was more than one occasion where the gate smacked the side of my legs as I tried to get on the Magic Carpet.
Overall, definitely an improvement but a bit underwhelming, I was hoping for a little bit faster, more comfortable and higher. I'm happy they finally fixed this chair though, the Old Knob was a total nightmare to ride and one of the main reasons a barely skied off of the knob. I definitely see myself lapping this chair a bit more than before. I really hope they tinker a bit with the Gate because it's extremely annoying at the moment, maybe I just need to get used to it, but it currently seems quite janky.
In terms of what Marmot should do next, I think it's pretty clear that the next chair in need of an upgrade is the Eagle Ridge Chair, which is in a similar state to the Knob before it got replaced, and the chair literally slaps your butt trying to get on. So definitely, the Eagle Chari should be the next priority.
