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.
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.
| Location | Area name | remaining | removed | notes | ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | Eaglecrest Ski Area, Juneau | 3 | 0 | "Black Bear" "Hooter" and "Ptarmigan" chairs | |
| Alaska | Hilltop Ski Area, Anchorage | 1 | 0 | Triple chair | |
| Australia | Thredbo | 1 | 1 | "Merrits" (removed) "Ramshead" (Decommissioned) | [3] |
| California | Alpine Meadows | 0 | 1 | removed was hybrid with YAN | |
| California | Boreal Mountain Resort | 2 | 0 | ||
| California | China Peak | 3 | 1 | ||
| California | Carbone Mountain Resort | 0 | 13 | Removed last lift in 1996 | |
| California | Bear Valley | 4 | 7 | Remaining are "Cub", "Super Cub", "Koala", and "Grizzly". "Kodiac", "Bear", and "Hibernation" removed. All doubles. | |
| California | Heavenly Ski Resort | 2 | 0 | 2 triples, one a hybrid with YAN | |
| California | Iron Mountain | 3 | 0 | "planning 2 more" | |
| California | June Mountain | 4 | 0 | 2 are hybrid manufacturers | |
| California | Mammoth Mountain Ski Area | 0 | 6 | ||
| California | Northstar at Tahoe | 0 | 6 | ||
| California | Squaw Valley Ski Resort | 0 | 6 | ||
| California | Rubicon Mountain Resort | 0 | 1 | ||
| Colorado | Aspen Mountain | 1 | 4 | updated in 1985 by Poma | |
| Colorado | Aspen Highlands | 0 | 9 | ||
| Colorado | Breckenridge Ski Resort | 6 | 2 | one remaining chair is a triple | |
| Colorado | Buttermilk | 0 | 1 | ||
| Colorado | Crested Butte Mountain Resort | 2 | 1 | ||
| Colorado | Durango Mountain ski area | 3 | 0 | ||
| Colorado | Hesperus | 1 | 0 | ||
| Colorado | Keystone Resort | 0 | 2 | ||
| Colorado | Powderhorn ski area | 0 | 1 | ||
| Colorado | Aspen/Snowmass | 5 | 2 | One double remains now | |
| Colorado | Vail Ski Resort | 3 | 3 | ||
| Colorado | Winter Park Resort | 1 | 4 | ||
| Idaho | Bogus Basin | 4 | 1 | 3 doubles, 1 triple | |
| Idaho | Brundage Mountain | 0 | 2 | ||
| Idaho | Lookout Pass ski area | 2 | 1 | ||
| Idaho | Schweitzer Mountain | 4 | 4 | ||
| Idaho | Silver Mountain | 1 | 0 | ||
| Idaho | Sun Valley | 1 | 4 | One double, (Cold Springs) remains. | |
| Indiana | Perfect North | 5 | 0 | 2 quads and 3 triples | |
| Massachusetts | Jiminy Peak | 3 | 1 double, 2 triples | ||
| Michigan | Blackjack Ski Resort | 4 | 0 | 4 doubles | |
| Michigan | Boyne Highlands Snow Ski Resort | 7 | 0 | 4 triples and 3 quads | |
| Michigan | Big Powderhorn Ski Resort | 9 | 0 | 9 doubles | |
| Michigan | Boyne Mountain | 7 | 0 | 1 double, 2 triples, 4 quads | |
| Michigan | Nub's Nob | 6 | 0 | 1 double, 2 triples, 3 quads | |
| Michigan | Pine Mountain ski area | 3 | 1 | ||
| Michigan | Snow Snake ski area | 1 | 0 | a triple chair | |
| Minnesota | Giants Ridge | 5 | 0 | 2 triples, 3 doubles | |
| Montana | Big Sky Resort | 1 | 0 | ||
| Montana | Bridger Bowl Ski Area | 2 | 2 | Bridger and Deer Park lifts removed summer 2010 | |
| Montana | Discovery Basin Ski Area | 3 | 0 | ||
| Montana | Montana Snowbowl | 2 | 1 | ||
| Montana | 3 | 0 | |||
| New Hampshire | Crotched Mountain | 3 | 0 | ||
| New Hampshire | Mount Sunapee Resort | 1 | 0 | begun in 1986 by Riblet, completed 1987 by Doppelmayr | |
| New Hampshire | Wildcat Mountain Ski Area | 2 | 2 | the two remaining are triples | |
| New Mexico | Ski Apache | 4 | 1 | 2 triples and 2 doubles remain; 1 double removed | |
| New Mexico | Ski Santa Fe | 1 | 0 | ||
| New York | West Mountain | 1 | 0 | #2 Chair to top of mountain, installed early 1960s | http://www.skiwestmountain.com/ |
| Oregon | Hoodoo (ski area) | 3 | 3 | 1 double, 1 triple, 1 quad | |
| Oregon | Mount Ashland Ski Area | 3 | 0 | 2 double, 2 triples | |
| Oregon | Mount Bachelor ski area | 0 | 7 | ||
| Oregon | Mount Hood Meadows | 3 | 1 | ||
| Oregon | Mount Hood Skibowl | 4 | 1 | ||
| Oregon | Oregon State Fair | 1 | 0 | ||
| Oregon | Summit Ski Area | 1 | 0 | ||
| Oregon | Timberline Lodge ski area | 0 | 5 | ||
| Oregon | Willamette Pass ski area | 3 | 2 | 3 triples | |
| Utah | Brighton Ski Resort | 1 | 1 | ||
| Utah | The Canyons | 1 | 2 | ||
| Vermont | Mount Snow | 0 | 1 | old Carinthia double was removed | |
| Vermont | Stowe | 1 | 1 | Lookout Double | |
| Washington | Mount Baker Ski Area | 2 | 5 | 2 quads remain | |
| Washington | Stevens Pass Ski Area | 5 | 4 | 1 triple 3 doubles remain and 1 double (Blue Jay) was removed | |
| Washington | The Summit at Snoqualmie | 11 | 7 | 2 triples, 9 doubles | |
| Washington | Crystal Mountain | 0 | 4 | Riblet/Hall hybrid destroyed in 2015 | |
| Washington | White Pass Ski Area | 2 | 2 | #2 1958, #4 1984 | |
| Washington | Mission Ridge Ski Area | 3 | 1 | ||
| Washington | Mount Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park | 5 | 0 | ||
| Washington | #Loup Loup | 0 | 1 | ||
| Washington | 49 Degrees North Ski Area | 1 | 0 | 1 Double that was relocated from Sun Valley Idaho | |
| Wisconsin | Little Switzerland Ski Area | 4 | 1 | ||
| Wisconsin | Bruce Mound Winter Sports Area | 1 | 0 | Formally Brundage Mountain Lift, Modified and Installed summer 2011 | |
| Wyoming | Grand Targhee Resort | 0 | 3 | ||
| Wyoming | Jackson Hole Mountain Resort | 0 | 1 |
See also
- Detachable chairlift: the technological successor to the fixed-grip chairlift
- Magic Mile, Riblet's first chairlift
References
- Riblet website, retrieved 2012-10-18
- Sowder, Douglas (2003-05-13). "To: Our Friends in the Ski Industry". Riblet Tramway Company. Retrieved 2007-01-23.
- "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.