Spokane's Riblet Tramways Got Us to The
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Fall 2015 SPOKANE’S RIBLET TRAMWAYS GOT US TO THE TOP With more than 450 Riblet chairlifts once in use, most widely recognized that first season. Sun Valley gained ex- anyone who skied in the 1960s, ‘70s, or ‘80s could say they posure through the railroad’s promotion efforts and also rode a Riblet. by its bringing some of the world’s best ski racers to Sun However, for its first 40 years, beginning in 1896, Riblet Valley during that 1936-37 season to compete in an event Tramways of Spokane, Wash., was a world leader in design- that would later be known as the Harriman Cup. ing and building aerial tramways for mining. Skiing was in its Riblet enters the ski market future, but Riblet wasn’t the first on the scene. Although Sun Valley was built during the heart of the By 1936, aerial tramways and railway funiculars already Depression, the national economy continued to falter, were popular at select European ski resorts, and, while those and, for Riblet, that meant there were fewer investments types of lift systems were admired and desired by Americans, in mining. In 1939, the company took a chance in bid- they rarely made it past the drawing table ding on a government-funded chair- in this country. The development of such lift project at Mt. Hood’s Timberline uphill conveyances required investment, Lodge. Riblet won the bid and built hard to come by in the Depression-era the highly acclaimed “Magic Mile” economy of the 1930s. single chairlift there (and, 23 years Luckily, such development also re- later, built its double-chair replace- quired engineering innovation, an abun- ment). dant American trait, and dedicated ski With the Magic Mile’s original area developers. In 1935, Averell Harri- design job in hand, Riblet was called man, then chairman of the Union Pacific The first double chairlift in the world, upon to help design the first chair- Railroad, brought his vision of having a Riblet chair design, Mt. Spokane lift at the new Sugar Bowl ski resort European-like quality and character to the plans for his new near Donner Summit in California. That lift, rising up the Sun Valley ski resort. His development team took note and mountain named after Walt Disney, the resort’s largest insisted on the need for “mechanical devices to take people to investor, was another smashing success, which helped the top of the slides.” propel Riblet further into the ski business. Sun Valley and chairlifts: Synonymous While the Spokane company did not invent the first The Union Pacific engineers responded by devising a plan ski chairlift, its president at the time, Carl Hansen, was to use an overhead cable conveyance sys- clever enough to take the step to tem that was based on a banana-loading adapt Riblet’s industrial tramway de- lift one of its engineers, Jim Curran, had sign services to the expanding recre- designed for the United Fruit Company. ational skiing market. The adapted idea was that the system With Sun Valley’s success, the could carry people, instead of bananas. larger ski resorts in North America With the help of American Steel and began opting for chairlifts. Ameri- Wire Company, which had helped Dart- can Steel & Wire led the charge after mouth Outing Club design and build Riblet’s Mt. Hood Magic Mile - 1939 its success at Sun Valley and built America’s first J-bar lift, the two companies worked together single chairlifts at Belknap’s Gunstock development in to design and build the first chairlifts in the world at Sun Val- New Hampshire, Mt. Tremblant in the Canadian Lauren- ley. tians, Stowe in Vermont, and, in 1939, the first three–lift The chairlifts worked well for skiers, and reports spread system rising to the top of Baldy at Sun Valley. about seasoned skiers getting as much as 10,000 vertical feet In the meantime, many local ski area operators and of skiing in one day. The success of the first chairlifts was engineers were figuring ways to modify existing mining Continued on Page 2 Page 2 SPOKANE’S RIBLET TRAMWAYS GOT US TO THE TOP Continued from Page 1 tramways for skier use by relocating them to their slopes lift installations at Aspen in 1956 and Mammoth Mountain and replacing ore buckets with chair carriers for skiers. and Squaw Valley in 1957. Also, in 1957, Riblet built Sun And, so, Alta’s and Aspen’s first chairlifts were modified, Valley’s first double lift and made headway into the big relocated mining tramways. Eastern markets with the first lifts at the new Whiteface Prior to World War II, a total of 18 chairlifts were built Mountain ski resort in New York. in North America, nine by American Steel & Wire, two by The progression of increased capacity with double, tri- Riblet, and the rest by an assortment of local mining engi- ple, and, later, quad chairlifts followed the trends in skier neers and ski club enthusiasts. demand for better uphill ser- Skiing benefits from post-war boom vice with shorter lift lines at a While the war efforts dramatically slowed the grow- time when there was increas- ing ski industry, the post-war boom in skiing allowed ski ing growth in the number of areas to start investing in more lifts. From the late 1940s skiers. through the early 1970s doz- In 1963, Riblet designed ens of new ski areas were built and installed the world’s first in North America each decade. triple chairlift at Boyne High- While other tramway compa- lands ski area in Michigan. nies got into the action, Riblet Riblet also went on to devel- continued its steady growth by op a quad chair in the 1960s, A full chairlift gets skiers to the capitalizing on its earlier efforts but it was its competitor, Bob top on this Ohio Riblet quad lift and building high quality, in- Heron, who designed and installed the first quad chair -- novative designs, including its the very next year at Boyne Mountain, Mich. unique clip system that allowed Riblet’s dominance continued Riblet’s first chair featured on the chairs to pass smoothly over Lift installations remained at a hectic pace through the “Pee-Chee” folders the sheave wheels at towers. 1960s and into the 1970s, with Riblet continuing its domi- Riblet continued its innovations, notably designing the nance. By 1966, Ski Area Management (SAM) magazine world’s first double and triple chairlift sys- estimated there were 1,500 ski lifts and tows tems. In 1945, the company helped the Mt. operating in North America, including 489 Spokane Ski Club erect Washington state’s chairlifts. Not slowing down both before and first chairlift on Mt. Spokane. Using a modi- after the SAM study, Riblet took on many fied and relocated mining tramway, Riblet high profile installations: the first chairlifts up created a double-seat system, and the lift re- the Warm Springs side of Sun Valley’s Baldy ceived considerable attention when national Mountain and the first chairlifts for Vail, As- radio newscaster Lowell Thomas ventured out pen Highlands, Snowmass, Keystone, Bach- to ride it that first season. elor, Mt. Hood Meadows, Alpine Meadows, In the same period, Riblet continued to Northstar, and many others. generate more orders and designed and built 1962-Ray Tanner installs a Then, a transition began. As chairlifts pro- single chairlifts at Mt. Hood Ski Bowl in 1946 Riblet at Ski Acres. Seattle Times gressed from triple, to quad, to six-packs, ski and Ski Acres at Snoqualmie Pass (now Sum- Josef Scaylea photo areas could get more uphill capacity for just a mit Central) in 1949. With the premier of Riblet’s unique bit more premium. In the 1980s and leading into the early double chairlift and a follow-on double chairlift installation 1990s, the more user-friendly (and more expensive) de- by Bob Heron at Berthoud Pass, Colo., the era of the single tachable chairlifts began to dominate the market. chair was waning. During that period, Riblet continued to install lifts and Riblet’s double chairlifts spur growth to provide parts and repairs, but it never really embraced Riblet continued to improve its designs and, in the the new detachable designs. That, combined with slower 1950s, built many ski areas’ first chairlifts, particularly in growth in annual new installations, eventually led to its the Pacific Northwest, with pivotal installations at Stevens closing in 2003. Pass, Mt. Baker, Hoodoo Ski Bowl, and White Pass, and, While Riblet Tramways no longer is in existence, many later, at Crystal Mountain, Brundage Mountain, Schweitzer of its chairlifts still service slopes we enjoy today. Basin, and Alpental. The boom was definitely on, and Rib- let started gaining footholds in more distant markets with ~ Kirby Gilbert & Mike Dederer Page 3 ANCIENT SKIERS TO CELEBRATE 33rd ANNUAL ANCIENTS GO DIGITAL SUN VALLEY REUNION WEEK Visit our new website: The Sun Valley Lodge is completely renovated and the http://www.ancientskiers.com mountain staff will be ready for Ancient Skiers the week of January 16 – 23, 2016. This will be our 33rd annual reunion week and it promises to be as good as ever with top quality PLEASE HELP FIND NEW ANCIENT SKIERS skiing and mingling throughout the week. Whether you are reading this via email or a mailed edi- tion, we need your help in bringing in new members. It’s easy to join and members enjoy the great lift and lodging prices at our annual week in Sun Valley. We also highlight our unique Pacific Northwest skiing history in the quarterly newsletters. And our biennial Northwest Ski Hall of Fame banquet is a great place1.