Chairlifts That Have Moved

Hello friends,
I know there is a web of stories of transfers and trades, wheeling and dealing of towers and cable, bullwheels on the freeway in the back of grampa's truck and crowds of local folk working the phones and the mountain to move a chairlift from one location to another but...please post your knowledge or experiences here about moving a ski lift.
It seems interesting to me because its about people relationships and the "little" guy working hard to get a chairlift down, then up, then up and running. I don't know why, but this interests me. Maybe I want to start my OWN ski area. More on that later.
Stories about Poma lifts, rope tows and any kind of ski lift is welcome here.
Are there any experiences with portable rope tows where you hooked up your dads truck or something and created a ski lift? This is your home.

Relevant link about Anthony Lakes history and improvised moving of the chairlift.
www.anthonylakes.com/pin/Company/History/tabid/95/Default.aspx

Nice Skoogs Thread
www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...index.php?topic=1950

Recent Related Thread
www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...ex.php?topic=18457.0


Some questions:
Where did the Mount Philchuck chair go?
Where did the Alpental chair-2 come from?
Where did the High Campbell lift come from?
Where did the old Debbies Gold chair go?
Where is the SINGLE chairlift from Ski Acres?
These questions and many more are relevant.
Please feel free to express yourself about this subject of chairlift transfer!

The very best of seasons regards,
BillyTheMountain

As I mentioned in the Mt Pilchuck thread (linked above), I've been told by a friend who used to ski there that the old Mt Pilchuck chairlift is now Chair 6 at Crystal Mountain (High Campbell).

But, I'm not sure of this. As I remember, the old Yodelin chairlift was reinstalled at another area, and I have a vague recollection that it might have become Chair 6.

Both the Yodelin and Pilchuck chairlifts would have become available around 1980, and I'm pretty sure they both got reused.

I imagine that the old single chair at Ski Acres was scrapped. It was originally built in the late 1940s and I doubt that anybody would have wanted it. I rode that chairlift hundreds of times.

I always thought the High Campbell chair came from Yodlin.  I got that info from the Lost Ski Areas site --

lostskiareas.wikispaces.com/Yodelin

And this site indicates that Stevens Tye Mill chair also came from Yodlin, and then in 1999 that chair was replaced altogether with the newer triple chair --

www.stevenspass.com/Stevens/the-mountain/z-history.aspx

And this site indicates that the Pilchuck equipment went to Crystal --

www.mountpilchuck.com/lodgehistory2.htm

In 1976 Stevens Pass ski resort purchased from the mortgage holders what was left of the defunct Yodelin Ski Area – including a chairlift, which after extensive upgrading was helicoptered one mile up the valley to become Stevens Pass No.7 “Tye-Mill” lift, opening up new skiing terrain.
The other lift was sold to Crystal Mountain and was installed as Chair 6-Upper Cambell chair.

This would mean that the High Campbell Chairlift is (one of the old) Yodelin Chairlifts.

So I wonder WHERE the Philchuck Chairlift is today?
Heather Recreation, Inc. was unable to receive assurances of a longer-term lease on the area and was forced in 1979-80 to dispose of the lift equipment that it had stockpiled for expansion into the west side bowls and to remove the two existing chairs. This lift equipment all ended up at Crystal Mountain. The closure date was May 30, 1980.
This seems to be conflicting information. If the High Campbell chair is from Yodelin, where is the Philchuck chair (at Crystal)?


We are also wondering where Chair-2 at Alpental was moved from or was it installed brand new? The rumor at Alpental is that chair 2 is from another ski area called Yodelin, but that may/must be strictly myth.

I am also somewhat amazed that the histories of these ski area's and chairlifts is not very detailed or non-existent like the story of the Ski Acres SINGLE (yellow) chair.
We used to call it the yellow chair and I loved riding that thing. I remember riding that chairlift in the windy snowy miserable weather and just loving it! Especially in a wind as the shiv-bouncing lightweight single chair was quite a ride swinging away like a ancient ski-lift pendulum marking its own time of death.

Somewhere there MUST be hand-written logs about each chairlift as they were installed and certified.

We are also wondering where Chair-2 at Alpental was moved from or was it installed brand new? The rumor at Alpental is that chair 2 is from another ski area called Yodelin, but that may/must be strictly myth.

I think there's no way that Alpental's Chair 2 could have come from Yodelin. Alpental opened in the winter of 1967-68 with three chairs (including Chair 2). Yodelin opened in December 1969. This information can be found by following the links in my lost ski areas reference section:

alpenglow.org/ski-history/subjects/S-info.html#ski-areas-lost

The Yodelin avalanche occurred in January 1971. A second chairlift was installed the following winter. Yodelin struggled during the 1970s, partly due to law suits resulting from the avalanche (which killed four in a housing development). I don't know exactly when they went out of business.

I skied Blacktail Mountain outside Lakeside, MT a couple of times. As I recall, all 3 of their chairs were moved there from other resorts, including one from Crystal.