12 replies to this topic

[iceberg210]

Well I've been doing some research on various lift manufactures (if you want some of the random trees of buy outs etc I'll post them here, didn't know if it was all just common knowledge though, anyway) and some of the ones I'm having real trouble with are some of the old Canadian manufactures. Anyway here is what I have so far.

Alpine AG
It seems that while most of the lifts they ever built were TBar's (in Alberta especially) they did make some lifts but they were also all in Alberta. This leads me to believe (from the little information I've been able to find) that they were a Canadian based company.

Blue Mountain Lifts/ Skyway
All the information I've found out about these two are that there was some sort of relationship between the two and that led me to look at the lift surveys and sure enough the year that Skyway stops producing Blue Mountain starts. I don't know if that's coincidence or not but with all the other information about them being somehow connected and the stories of Skyway grips failing and what not I wouldn't at all be surprised if they shut down Skyway then opened up BM Lifts with the idea of getting a new start. Regardless Blue Mountain Lifts was latter bought out by Lietner which was one of the ways they got into the North American market.

Murray Latta
As some probably already know this company is still around doing installs, parts and other projects with and without skilifts.

Samson
This is the one that has brought me the most issue digging up information. I found an old Canadian Yellow Pages on line that suggested that they were located in Quebec. Also in another place I read that they went out of business in the early nineties. This seems to make sense as their lift installs died about then as well.

Anyway this is about the extent of my knowledge of these Canadian lift manufactures, does anyone else have any information on them to help fill out the history and information behind these companies?

Thanks

Erik Berg

[Peter]

I think Alpine Lift may have just been an importer of Doppelmayr lifts up until the lifts began to be sold under the Doppelmayr brand name in 1970. If you look at pictures of the 3 remaining Alpine AG lifts at Marmot Basin, Phoenix Mountain and Canyon Mountain, they look like any other early Doppelmayr lift.

[Allan]

Skier, on Mar 16 2009, 04:35 PM, said:

I think Alpine Lift may have just been an importer of Doppelmayr lifts up until the lifts began to be sold under the Doppelmayr brand name in 1970. If you look at pictures of the 3 remaining Alpine AG lifts at Marmot Basin, Phoenix Mountain and Canyon Mountain, they look like any other early Doppelmayr lift.

Phoenix mountain in Grand Forks? Most definitely a Doppelmayr T-Bar...

[Peter]

Allan, on Mar 16 2009, 05:54 PM, said:

Phoenix mountain in Grand Forks? Most definitely a Doppelmayr T-Bar...

That's the one.

[mikest2]

I was going through some archive stuff a while ago, and I think I found the original Alpine Lift AG invoice for my old Main Tbar from 1962. I'll try to dig it out.

[dromo_mania]

Murray-Latta is still alive & well as a machine shop in a large suburb of Vancouver Murray-Latta machine for info.. and a link to a Wikipedia link

I had some experience with some of the chairs along a mountain in the North Shore of Vancouver. For their era and what they did (a fixed grip/ center pole chair) it ran alright. The story I heard was that in the 70's when it was sexy for the BC Government to own/ manage ski areas, there was a push for 'local' companies to build & supply equipment. It could be one of the reasons these lifts were seen in Provincial Park ski areas.

[mthornton]

My imperfect memory tells me the original Standish Chair at Sunshine Village was a one-off by a Quebec based chainsaw company. During the years that I worked at SSV (79-89), this lift had major components from other lift manufacturers.
M

[Peter]

mthornton, on Mar 18 2009, 06:45 PM, said:

My imperfect memory tells me the original Standish Chair at Sunshine Village was a one-off by a Quebec based chainsaw company. During the years that I worked at SSV (79-89), this lift had major components from other lift manufacturers.
M

Timberland-Ellicott was the brand.

[liftmech]

dromo_mania, on Mar 17 2009, 05:14 PM, said:

Murray-Latta is still alive & well as a machine shop in a large suburb of Vancouver Murray-Latta machine for info.. and a link to a Wikipedia link

I had some experience with some of the chairs along a mountain in the North Shore of Vancouver. For their era and what they did (a fixed grip/ center pole chair) it ran alright. The story I heard was that in the 70's when it was sexy for the BC Government to own/ manage ski areas, there was a push for 'local' companies to build & supply equipment. It could be one of the reasons these lifts were seen in Provincial Park ski areas.

Could be-- I would imagine it helped that the lifts didn't have to be transported a great distance from the factory, either. Of the four I know of in the US, three were within several hours from Vancouver. I think M-L was the only company other than Riblet to supply lifts in Washington State until the 70s (T-bird at Snoqualmie excepted). I agree that they ran pretty well, fairly easy to maintain and all that. The only thing I didn't like about them was the open ring-and-pinion final drive, but M-L wasn't the only company to do that.

[Andoman]

Murray-Latta had a booth at the construction show I went to a few weeks ago advertising manhole covers and catch basins. Seems more like foundry work than a company that would make ski lifts, which is usually more machining work from what I've read.

[mthornton]

Andoman, on Mar 21 2009, 01:23 PM, said:

Murray-Latta had a booth at the construction show I went to a few weeks ago advertising manhole covers and catch basins. Seems more like foundry work than a company that would make ski lifts, which is usually more machining work from what I've read.

Go to Switzerland & look at the manhole covers... they say "Von Roll".

[Andoman]

mthornton, on Mar 21 2009, 11:00 PM, said:

Go to Switzerland & look at the manhole covers... they say "Von Roll".

Interesting

[seilbahnbilder.ch]

Andoman, on Mar 22 2009, 04:55 AM, said:

Interesting

It's right that they are made by Von Roll - but as I know from an other affiliated company than the one that made cable cars.