5 replies to this topic

[Don Coyote®]

I just read an article on Wikipedia about the first T-Bar in The United States of America..... installed at Pico Mountain ski area in 1940.

MY T-Bar was installed in 1958.




Now that I know where and when the FIRST T-Bar was built...... I'm wondering where the oldest T-Bar STILL IN OPERATION might be. I also wonder just how many T-Bar lifts were constructed in the U.S. between 1940 and 1958. I'd love to be able to tell people that my lift was one of the first twenty or thirty lifts installed in America. (Or fourty,..... or fifty,..... whatever).


Are there any history majors out there (or IN HERE) that might have this information or anything similar?


BTW....... any new members who don't know me yet..... I am the head mechanic (only mechanic) at Mount Mancelona in Michigan with an antique Doppelmayr T-Bar with a gasoline engine upgrade. This is a private resort..... I only rennovated this lift for my own use..... as well as the property owner's children (and mine) and their friends.


..... But the future is wide open. (We're all wondering if we can get this lift to pass a State inspection).




Thanks for any and all help,.......... Mike. (Don).

[Don Coyote®]

BALLS!!!!!




I thought I posted this in "General Discussion",..... not "Off Topic".



Ah well......... no biggie.

[Bogong]

Of absolutely no interest to anyone here but me:

Australia's first:

* Rope tow was installed in 1937
* J-bar was installed in 1938
* Nutcracker tow in 1950
* T-bar in 1957
* Poma Lifts at 4 different resorts in 1964

All of these are long dead except for one of the 1964 Poma Lifts that still runs at a small resort.

The oldest lift still operating in this country is a nutcracker tow which has been chugging away at a minor "club field" since 1953.
I doubt there are many American lifts of that vintage still operating.

[Don Coyote®]

It would be cool as Hell if I actually have the oldest functioning T-Bar in the United States!!!

.....(Not very likely and I wouldn't expect it........but a cool fantasy, nonetheless).

[william b]

Don Coyote®, on 13 December 2011 - 03:30 PM, said:

It would be cool as Hell if I actually have the oldest functioning T-Bar in the United States!!!

.....(Not very likely and I wouldn't expect it........but a cool fantasy, nonetheless).

According to Mt. Sunapee's (New Hampshire) history, the original Sunbowl t-bar was installed in 1953. This lift was moved to Franklin NH in 1968, and still operates. It is listed as a Heron, although i strongly suspect that Ernest Constam had something to do with it. I believe O.D. Hopkins did the original install at Sunapee, and the relocation to Franklin. There are pictures and a video of the t-bar in Franklin on NELSAP's website.

WBL

[Don Coyote®]

Thanks, Willie!


.....Anyone else?