What's Your Favorite Chairlift?

BrandoComando

BrandoComando

Active member
I just watched Salomon's film The Chairlift last night and it got me thinking. I haven't seen a thread like this in a few years.

What's your favorite chairlift out there and why?

It doesn't have to be the fastest or have the raddest lines. Which lift is your favorite?

Mine is chair 10 at Kirkwood. KT-22 at Squaw gets all the hype in Tahoe, but The Wall will always be my personal favorite. So much amazing terrain is accessible from that chair. The skull and crossbones sign is classic. When I was learning how to ski, I'd look up there and think "One day I'll be good enough to ski that." The first time I went up there, I definitely wasn't good enough for it. But it inspired me to keep skiing and get better and now it's one of my favorite places in the world.
 
The rope tow at Powderhouse. I'm surprised it didn't rip my 6 year old arms straight off but because of it I'm not a complete shrimp.
 
The sketchy old lift at Boho on the east side of the mountain, with the bar in the middle and barely padded wooden seats... so classic and wholesome feeling to ride
 
The high-speed quad at wildcat, 2000 vert in like 7 minutes. It feels like a friggin rollercoaster the first few times you ride it.
 
14213766:Lazylightning said:
Eagle Wind @Winter Park, love everything about it. I am a sucker for fixed grip 2 seaters and the terrain off that lift is top notch. The lower liftline is an off camber mogul field with side hits everywhere...it gets rowdy

**This post was edited on Dec 17th 2020 at 12:49:49pm
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Love that lift. Bunch of fun little trees and so beautiful to finish a cirque run and see it in the distance when youre going up. Makes you wonder how long that stretch is.
 
14213791:BigPurpleSkiSuit said:
Peruvian-Snowbird

Mid baldy broom closet to high speed double on pow days, fast chips laps on chalk days

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Awesome run dude. I need to make it out to Snowbird one of these days
 
haven’t been to a lot of places outside the east coast but lapping the challenger lift at big sky was a lot of fun
 
The old Catskinner chair in Whistler (RIP). Such an iconic chair seen in a lot of ski movies over the years and in the background of many sick park edits. It was a long, slow fixed grip chair but the views of the park were amazing.
 
Thanyes at PCMR

Wildkitten at Alta

Old 3 Kings double at PCMR

I think I've got a thing for old double chairs...
 
14213851:appa said:
Thanyes at PCMR

Wildkitten at Alta

Old 3 Kings double at PCMR

I think I've got a thing for old double chairs...
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almost forgot Y chair and Z chair at Hunter
 
Snowghost will always and forever be a legend to me.

Mineral Basin at snowbird is probably one of the most fun lifts I have ever been on. So much fun ripping the steep initial headwall down the lift then its basically a natural terrain park all the way to the bottom. Its the perfect length to rip laps all afternoon.

Shoutout to Deep Temerity at Aspen Highlands. Some great old school steeps out there.
 
Buffalo ski club tiny private shitty hill with a 2 double chairs one being docs revenge. Things almost a mile long maybe longer super slow and cold metal seats and backs. But has so many fun natural rollers and hits on the run and runs around super fun at night 2. Especially with like 12inches plus of blower lake effect some days it’s been hip deep by 10 at night.
 
14213862:Lazylightning said:
I don't know what it is but there is something about doubles that I love. Maybe it's the old "pure" feeling they have? Not sure
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that feeling of putting your arm around a girl on an old double chair while you were a teenager

Almost as classic as the ole dick in the popcorn at the movies

**This post was edited on Dec 17th 2020 at 4:09:19pm
 
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Headwaters @ big sky. Double with no bar = no mouthbreathers and you can lap some pretty steep stuff

**This post was edited on Dec 17th 2020 at 4:34:30pm
 
14213906:aFrogiscool said:
Summit chair at solitude. ya gotta love the access to honeycomb
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Summit is an awesome chair for sure. Access to Honeycomb, the hike along the ridge with some sweet lines down Cathedral, Headwall Forest and tons of fun side hits etc down Dynamite. I used to ride this chair with my Wife all the time and it was fun because she could go down the blue groomer and I could rock around in the glades on either side. Bombing the lower section was always fun too.
 
def the old catskinner

**This post was edited on Dec 17th 2020 at 5:39:36pm

**This post was edited on Dec 18th 2020 at 3:46:08am
 
Alright here is my thought process:

Needs almost no lift line, lapable, access dope terrain, no one puts bar down on your head.

Winner: Lift2 at Taos + hike to west basin

Loser: American Flyer at Copper

I think I would rather ski lift2 at Taos only forever for the rest of my life than every lift in the front range. All they need is like a mini park on the groomer back to the lift.
 
14213940:Lazylightning said:
American flyer fucking sucks lol
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32 degrees, no wind, bluebird day. Just enjoying feeling the sun on my face trying to make it up to sierra.

"Mind if I put the bubble down" - some dude on the lift.

*lift stops 18 times on the way up as people fail to get on and off*
 
A few that come to mind from growing up skiing:

- The Kanc Quad. I think it's gone now :( and replaced with an 8-pack. But getting off that lift, lapping LMP, those were some of my favorite ski days.

- Seven Brothers, also at Loon - horrible lift but lots of laps on that chair.

- Zuma Lift at A-Basin. First time I skied out West was at A-Basin and we lapped this lift for hours
 
984987.jpeg

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???????

Teepee Town Luxury Express at Banff Sunshine Village!

Kushiest ride ever with heated seats, orange bubble dome, and footrests.

The wind was really extreme on that part of the mountain. Services some pretty gnarly terrain too.
 
Bonaventure quad at jay gets hype on pow days same with the single at mrg. Other notable ones the red chair at magic and fourrunner at stowe.
 
Bonaventure quad at jay gets hype on pow days same with the single at mrg. Other notable ones the red chair at magic and fourrunner at stowe.
 
The old high peaks double at Jore (RIP).

An old, janky double tucked in near the summit that always brought the goods on a powder day. Even on busy days, there were hardly any lift lines and it served as an escape from all the Jerry’s that were scattered over the entire front side of the mountain by eating shit everywhere and risking injury or death on their first run ever on the gondola. It was always cool to hype up others that were lapping dark side glades underneath the lift line, and passing by the bottom with the “Betty Loved This Trail” sign always made me smile.

The old double was just taken down this past summer and it’s replaced with a quad now, so who knows what could happen over there later this season.
 
Edit: didn’t mean to post the same thing twice lol whoops

getting used to a new phone and it’s glitching here and there

**This post was edited on Dec 17th 2020 at 8:45:09pm
 
14213890:dant02 said:
Gotta be red chair at magic or Madonna at smuggs
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i fucking love that lift at smuggs. you can practically reach down and touch the people skiing down the head wall on liftline
 
Red Fox at Diamond Peak after they moved the terrain park there - so rad watching little kids sending it for the first time in the park and becoming one of us.

3 Kings at PCMR when Powdr ran it

Milly at Brighton

Worst for me was 5 chair at Breck, no contest
 
Snow Ghost (RIP) at Schweitzer will always be my number one. It broke down constantly, it was slower than any chair I've every been on, took 15ish minutes to ride, and had a 100ish ft dip at one point that would always freak me out as a kid. It accessed some of my favorite terrain out of any resort I've been to, I spent my childhood on that thing and I miss it everyday im out.

schweitzer-144.jpg

https://www.schweitzer.com/blog/schweitzer-life/an-ode-to-snow-ghost/
 
Lift with the most nostalgia for me is northwest at Mt Bachelor, I have so many good memories from ripping there in the spring as a kid. It's probably the least crowded lift on the mountain, the longest, and the steepest, and has pretty much infinite terrain out towards the west bowls. Nothing can beat a good day off summit tho
 
Super lame but I've said it before and I'll say it again. The quad at Bittersweet. Thousands of laps on that thing by now. Gets you to the top in a minute which is great late in the evening with no lines. Can view of the park and some nice sunsets in the evenings. Always a fun milestone if one of my students gets down from it for the first time. Thing really makes the hill for me. When I hopefully move away for good I'll miss my times lapping that chair.
 
its gotta be santas beard at springs. Absolutely nothing beats hotlapping the rope tow on a snowy night under the lights
 
14214150:abar. said:
Lift with the most nostalgia for me is northwest at Mt Bachelor, I have so many good memories from ripping there in the spring as a kid. It's probably the least crowded lift on the mountain, the longest, and the steepest, and has pretty much infinite terrain out towards the west bowls. Nothing can beat a good day off summit tho
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hahahah we were just talking about this today, peak2(backside) on Willamette pass for me tho
 
14214043:Brule. said:
The old high peaks double at Jore (RIP).

An old, janky double tucked in near the summit that always brought the goods on a powder day. Even on busy days, there were hardly any lift lines and it served as an escape from all the Jerry’s that were scattered over the entire front side of the mountain by eating shit everywhere and risking injury or death on their first run ever on the gondola. It was always cool to hype up others that were lapping dark side glades underneath the lift line, and passing by the bottom with the “Betty Loved This Trail” sign always made me smile.

The old double was just taken down this past summer and it’s replaced with a quad now, so who knows what could happen over there later this season.
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ive seen some legit skiers rip the dark side glades, didnt know they took the double down that sucks. one of my favorite chairs at gore forsure
 
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