Who Invented the Chairlift?

Skiing is a fun, exhilarating sport, but imagine how tiring it would be if you had to get to the top of every mountain by foot. Creation of the chairlift ended that grueling task and allowed skiers to rest before hitting the slopes again.

  1. History

    • The chairlift was invented by railroad engineer James Curran, who worked for Union Pacific. The first chairlift was installed at the Sun Valley ski resort in Idaho in 1936.

    Function

    • The chairlift is an aerial method of transporting skiers to mountaintops. Skiers sit down on seats similar to those found on Ferris wheels. The chair is then lifted by rope to the mountaintop, where skiers dismount.

    Initial Problems

    • A ski lift accident in 1956 prompted a national skiing magazine to publicly challenge the skiing industry to resolve mechanical problems with chairlifts. The results from this challenge became standardized safety codes for chairlifts.

    Production

    • American Steel & Wire Co. was the first company to manufacture chairlifts. The company was a division of U.S. Steel and was the primary manufacturer of chairlifts until 1951.

    Warning

    • Though chairlifts have become safer since the first model appeared in 1936, mishaps still happen. In January 2009, a man in Vail, Colorado, found himself hanging upside-down and without pants because his fold-down chair was not in the proper position. The only thing that kept the man from falling was one of his skis, which was stuck.