MWLSAP

mark@mwlsap.org

Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project
Unique Ski Lifts of the Midwest

VIDEO: 5 Unique, Historic, & Interesting Ski Lifts In the Midwest - Midwestskiers.com

Additions, corrections, comments? Please email : mark@mwlsap.org

Click or tap on lift type, or scroll down, for pictures and more information.

 

Down and Up Chairlifts - one lift going up both sides of a valley

Up and Over Chairlifts - one lift going up both sides of a hill

Tracked Chairlifts - no hanging cable

Thank you to Skiers and Snowboarders of the Midwest Facebook Group and
Michigan Ski Area History Facebook Page

Single Chairlifts

Poma Lifts (also called platter, disc, or button lifts) and Sitzlifts

Only known poma lift that is still in use in 2023 is at Mt. Itasca in Coleraine, MN.

I thought I would add poma lifts after seeing this post in the Overheard in Michigan Ski Resorts Facebook Group. If you know of a midwest ski area that had, or has, a poma lift, please let me know - mark@mwlsap.org

 Sitzlifts - basically a platter lift

J-Bars

The only known J-bar that is still in use in 2025 is at Powder Ridge Ski Area in Kimball, MN.

Picture from https://liftblog.com/j-bar-powder-ridge-mn/

UNIQUE LIFTS 

Down and Up Chairlifts

Snowcrest - Somerset, WI http://www.mwlsap.org/wisconsin/wi.htm#snowcrest
Chair No. 1 and Chair No. 2

(map courtesy of skimap.org)

 

 

Birch Park, Houlton, WI - http://www.mwlsap.org/wisconsin/wi.htm#birchpark

(map courtesy of skimap.org)

 

Ski World / Royal Valley, Buchanan, MI - https://www.mwlsap.org/michigan/mi.htm#skiworld

(map courtesy of skimap.org)

 

 

Mt. Brighton, Brighton, MI,

Thank you to Tom from Truckee, CA who sent me this email:
Mt. Brighton had a up and down chair.

Backstory: I started skiing late in life either during either the '69-70 or possibly '70-71. Starting at age 9 or 10, I will never be a good skier. Sigh.

At the time, Mt. Brighton had two double chairs, the blue chair on looker's left and green chair on looker's right, that ran up the big hill (Big Riskey, etc.). When I started skiing at Mt. Bright and through '75, maybe '76, a chair ran up the big hill (north facing) and then returned to go up a small south facing beginner hill. Looking at the layout on skimap.org, am thinking it was the blue chair that went up and down and up and down because of the parking lot position (expanded when the south facing hill was removed) and the beginner terrain was closer to the lodge.

About this time, my family started skiing Alpine Valley. Got bored of Alpine in a couple of years so went back to Mt. Brighton (even though apparently it does have less vertical). Since we had left, Mt. Brighton had put the yellow chair in (most western of the lifts) and made the blue chair lift "normal" with the south facing hill having been leveled. To quote my father, I would be a warm beer if part of the south facing hill was used to build the smaller hill for intermediates on the east side of Mt. Brighton.

Hope this is of some interest.

~Tom

Overheard in Michigan Ski Resorts Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1485307128340098/permalink/2285360648334738

Up and Over Chairlifts

 LOST
Lansing Ski Club - http://www.mwlsap.org/michigan/mi.htm#lansingskiclub
East Lansing, MI
MWLSAP Facebook Page
Lansing Ski Club Adds Lift - Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) · Thu, Dec 3, 1970

 

STILL OPEN:

Two at Little Switzerland, Swinger, WI

Whitecap Mountains, Upson, WI

Buena Vista, Bemidji, MN

 

Tracked Chairlifts

Skiers and Snowboarders of the Midwest Facebook Group

Caberfae
Resort still open

Ran for one season, 1959-69

 

 

Chestnut

Resort still open

 

SINGLE CHAIRLIFTS

Boyne Mountain (still open), Boyne Falls, MI
Installed at Boyne in 1948, began operating Jan. 9, 1949 . Hemlock Chair, single, changed to double three years later.

Moved from Sun Valley, ID. Was the world's first chairlift when installed on Dollar Mountain at Sun Valley in 1936. Designed by James Curran of Omaha Nebraska.

First chairlift in the Midwest [First chairlift in each Midwest state]

The Birth of the Chairlift and It's Tie to the Midwest - video - MidwestSkiers.com (5:12)

5 Unique, Historic, & Interesting Ski Lifts In the Midwest - video - MidwestSkiers.com (9:01)

Skiers and Snowboarders of the Midwest Facebook Group - Sept. 2023

James Curran (?) on his chair lift at Sun Valley

 

Val Chatel (lost), Park Rapids, MN - https://www.mwlsap.org/minnesota/mn.htm#valchatel

Second chairlift installed in Minnesota.

Ran from 1964 to 1971.

 

 

 MWLSAP.org - http://mwlsap.org is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

 

J-Bars

Only known J-bar that is still in use in 2023 is at Powder Ridge Ski Area in Kimball, MN.