Chairlift infrastructure at many ski resorts has quickly developed over the previous few a long time. Luxe, six-person heated chairlifts are actually in the marketplace. Huge Sky lately remodeled its Lone Peak Tram into a contemporary marvel with a glass enclosure perched at 11,166 ft to match. Each summer time, extra chairlifts are put in.But, the previous nonetheless lingers at some ski areas, specifically within the type of the Riblet double, a slowly disappearing breed of chairlift. Misplaced Oregon Ski Areas, in a current social media submit, shared outdated commercials for the lifts that present a window into snowboarding’s heyday. On the time, the commercials proudly proclaimed, Riblet was making “America’s Most Standard Chairlift!”They had been “Clean,” “Silent,” and “Protected,” one of many commercials mentioned, and appeared on the slopes of Mammoth Mountain, Whiteface, and Solar Valley, amongst many different ski resorts.See the adverts beneath.The 2026 POWDER Photograph Annual is right here! Search for a print copy on a newsstand close to you, or click on right here to have a duplicate shipped on to your entrance door.
Misplaced Oregon Ski Areas
What Is a Riblet Double?
The Riblet Tramway Firm was based in Spokane, Washington, greater than a century in the past, by Byron Riblet. Byron studied civil engineering on the College of Minnesota earlier than venturing west, the place he helped construct tramway methods for mining corporations in British Columbia. Alongside others, Byron formally included his tramway work as a enterprise in 1911.About 20 years later, Timberline Lodge, Oregon, requested the Riblet Tramway Firm to put in a chairlift, kicking off a interval of slopeside success for the enterprise Byron based. Whereas Riblet Tramway Firm had an array of chairlift choices, its hottest possibility proved to be the one that’s now best-known by skiers as an iconic nostalgia piece: the double. You may spy these traditional lifts within the commercials shared by Misplaced Oregon Ski Areas.
The Surviving Riblets
Unable to maintain up with altering calls for within the chairlift enterprise, the Riblet Tramway Firm shut down in 2003. Whereas the corporate’s legacy lives on via its double chairlifts, these lifts, as they age past their lifespan, are steadily being changed.This 12 months, Alpental, Washington, took down its legendary Chair 2—a Riblet double—to make manner for a more moderen mannequin. Different mountains have made related strikes. Nonetheless, a variety of Riblet doubles proceed ferrying skiers uphill. You’ll find them at Stevens Cross (Seventh Heaven), Montana Snowbowl (Grizzly, LaVelle, and Snow Park), and Lookout Cross (Northstar), to call some examples.
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