Riblet Tramway Company

The Riblet Tramway Company of Spokane, Washington,[1] which operated from 1908 to 2003, was once the largest ski chairlift manufacturer in the world.

Riblet's first chairlift, the Magic Mile at Timberline, as seen in the early 1940s. In the background is Timberline Lodge.

The company was founded by Byron Christian Riblet, who was born in Osage, Iowa, in 1865 and earned a degree in Civil Engineering. Arriving in Spokane in 1885, his first work was laying out railway and streetcar lines. He also built dams and irrigation projects.

In 1896, Riblet was contracted to erect a Finlayson ore tramway at the Noble Five silver mine in Sandon, British Columbia, to assist in moving ore down Reco Mountain to the mill at Cody. Apparently Riblet thought he was coming to build a streetcar line. Even so, Riblet decided he could improve the mining tram performance. Over time, Riblet raised more aerial tramways in the booming mining district, building 30 in the next decade. Riblet returned to Spokane in 1908, after working in the Kootenays, to found the Riblet Tramway Company. The company, which specialized in mining tramways, built them in Alaska, Canada, the western United States, and South America.

Riblet built its first chairlift in 1938 at Mount Hood, Oregon. Byron Riblet died in 1952, but the company boomed with the postwar rise of ski resorts. Skiing gained in popularity, and soon ski lifts became the major part of the Riblet Tramway Company's business. They built more than 400 lifts, particularly in Washington, Oregon, and California, and as far away as Australia. They have the most double chair lifts operating in the U.S.

The company only built fixed-grip lifts, whose chair grip is woven into the haul rope rather than clamped onto it. But other technologies eventually proved more popular. In early 2003, the firm announced that it was no longer viable and would go out of business.[2]

Installations

Riblet chairlifts can be found in many places still in service, though the majority have been removed. This table contains those documented by SkiLifts.org as of December 28, 2007. More Riblet chairlifts may be in existence, though some listed below may have already been removed. There is a total of 160 existing Riblet chairlifts and 103 no longer installed.

LocationArea nameremainingremovednotesref
AlaskaEaglecrest Ski Area, Juneau30"Black Bear" "Hooter" and "Ptarmigan" chairs
AlaskaHilltop Ski Area, Anchorage10Triple chair
Australia Thredbo 1 1 "Merrits" (removed) "Ramshead" (Decommissioned) [3]
CaliforniaAlpine Meadows01removed was hybrid with YAN
CaliforniaBoreal Mountain Resort20
CaliforniaChina Peak31
CaliforniaCarbone Mountain Resort013Removed last lift in 1996
CaliforniaBear Valley47Remaining are "Cub", "Super Cub", "Koala", and "Grizzly". "Kodiac", "Bear", and "Hibernation" removed. All doubles.
CaliforniaHeavenly Ski Resort202 triples, one a hybrid with YAN
CaliforniaIron Mountain30"planning 2 more"
CaliforniaJune Mountain402 are hybrid manufacturers
CaliforniaMammoth Mountain Ski Area06
CaliforniaNorthstar at Tahoe06
CaliforniaSquaw Valley Ski Resort06
CaliforniaRubicon Mountain Resort01
ColoradoAspen Mountain14updated in 1985 by Poma
ColoradoAspen Highlands09
ColoradoBreckenridge Ski Resort62one remaining chair is a triple
ColoradoButtermilk01
ColoradoCrested Butte Mountain Resort21
ColoradoDurango Mountain ski area30
ColoradoHesperus10
ColoradoKeystone Resort02
ColoradoPowderhorn ski area01
ColoradoAspen/Snowmass52One double remains now
ColoradoVail Ski Resort33
ColoradoWinter Park Resort14
IdahoBogus Basin413 doubles, 1 triple
IdahoBrundage Mountain02
IdahoLookout Pass ski area21
IdahoSchweitzer Mountain44
IdahoSilver Mountain10
IdahoSun Valley14One double, (Cold Springs) remains.
IndianaPerfect North502 quads and 3 triples
MassachusettsJiminy Peak31 double, 2 triples
MichiganBlackjack Ski Resort404 doubles
MichiganBoyne Highlands Snow Ski Resort704 triples and 3 quads
MichiganBig Powderhorn Ski Resort909 doubles
MichiganBoyne Mountain701 double, 2 triples, 4 quads
MichiganNub's Nob601 double, 2 triples, 3 quads
MichiganPine Mountain ski area31
MichiganSnow Snake ski area10a triple chair
MinnesotaGiants Ridge502 triples, 3 doubles
MontanaBig Sky Resort10
MontanaBridger Bowl Ski Area22Bridger and Deer Park lifts removed summer 2010
MontanaDiscovery Basin Ski Area30
MontanaMontana Snowbowl21
Montana30
New HampshireCrotched Mountain30
New HampshireMount Sunapee Resort10begun in 1986 by Riblet, completed 1987 by Doppelmayr
New HampshireWildcat Mountain Ski Area22the two remaining are triples
New MexicoSki Apache412 triples and 2 doubles remain; 1 double removed
New MexicoSki Santa Fe10
New YorkWest Mountain10#2 Chair to top of mountain, installed early 1960shttp://www.skiwestmountain.com/
OregonHoodoo (ski area)331 double, 1 triple, 1 quad
OregonMount Ashland Ski Area302 double, 2 triples
OregonMount Bachelor ski area07
OregonMount Hood Meadows31
OregonMount Hood Skibowl41
OregonOregon State Fair10
OregonSummit Ski Area10
OregonTimberline Lodge ski area05
OregonWillamette Pass ski area323 triples
UtahBrighton Ski Resort11
UtahThe Canyons12
VermontMount Snow01old Carinthia double was removed
Vermont Stowe 1 1 Lookout Double
WashingtonMount Baker Ski Area252 quads remain
WashingtonStevens Pass Ski Area541 triple 3 doubles remain and 1 double (Blue Jay) was removed
WashingtonThe Summit at Snoqualmie1172 triples, 9 doubles
WashingtonCrystal Mountain04Riblet/Hall hybrid destroyed in 2015
WashingtonWhite Pass Ski Area22#2 1958, #4 1984
WashingtonMission Ridge Ski Area31
WashingtonMount Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park50
Washington#Loup Loup01
Washington49 Degrees North Ski Area101 Double that was relocated from Sun Valley Idaho
WisconsinLittle Switzerland Ski Area41
WisconsinBruce Mound Winter Sports Area10 Formally Brundage Mountain Lift, Modified and Installed summer 2011
WyomingGrand Targhee Resort03
WyomingJackson Hole Mountain Resort01

See also

References

  1. Riblet website, retrieved 2012-10-18
  2. Sowder, Douglas (2003-05-13). "To: Our Friends in the Ski Industry". Riblet Tramway Company. Retrieved 2007-01-23.
  3. "Australian ski lift directory". Australian mountains. Retrieved 2020-01-16.

Sources

Martin J. Wells (December 2005). Tramway Titan: Byron Riblet, Wire Rope and Western Resource Towns. Trafford Publishing, Victoria. ISBN 978-1-4120-5093-7.

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