First chairlift?

Bob Arnold  Junior Member   Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Bow, NH Posts: 2

The Second Chairlift My research has Sun Valley's chairlift installed in December 1936. The March 8, 1937 issue of Life magazine did a cover story on the lft. Belknap Mountain Recreation Area (now Gunstock) installed the second single chair, and first east of the Mississippi, for the 1937-38 sski season. My grandfather, Fritzie Baer, was manager of Belknap from 1950-59. In the summer of 1956, the cable on this chair broke, killing one person. Due to the rough ride caused when the cable would travel over a pulley on a support, the chair manufacturer had designed a rubber sleeve to fit over the cable where the chair was attached. Unintentionally, this trapped water, causing corrosion and eventual failure. Due to this accident, the NH Tramway Safety Act was passed to inspect ski lifts and became the model for similar acts in other states.

#3         12-02-2007, 07:48 PM

Tom @ Snake River   Posts: n/a

first chair lifts Also a Mr.Castagneto helped design the first chair lift. These guys were Union Pacific engineers (as in technical engineering) and designed the lift after the bannana trollies used in South America. I got this info from Mr. Castagneto's son whom I worked with. I grew up on the 2nd oldest ski hill in Idaho - Bear Gulch. Tom

#2         05-29-2005, 11:34 AM

Seth  Administrator   Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Boulder Posts: 141

Yes, the first chairlift, designed by Jim Curran, was installed at Sun Valley in 1936. Where on the skiinghistory site did you find any reference to New Hampshire as the site of the first chairlift? If you can point specifically to the error, I'll correct it. Seth

#1         05-26-2005, 04:03 AM

Guest   Posts: n/a

chair lift wasn't the first chairlift installed in Sun Valley? (not in new hampshire as stated in the history page) Or maybe their are a bunch of places that claim to have been the first?