Today, two-person, three-person, quads, and even six-pack chair lifts transport hungry skiers and snowboarders up mountains in a matter of minutes. But back in the day, slow-going single-person lifts hauled one skier at a time from top to bottom. And the first of those lifts came to life in Sun Valley, Idaho nearly nine decades ago.
In December 1936, Sun Valley premiered the first known chair lift on Proctor Mountain – a single lift inspired by a banana conveyor belt. It was a small but mighty apparatus that could transport 400 skiers per hour, and it remade the sport of skiing during one of the sport’s earliest banner years. In 1936, SKI magazine began publication, the first ski instructor was certified in the United States, and the third Olympic Winer Games hosted the first-ever alpine skiing events.
A Brainchild of Unlikely Partners
While many a skier might have dreamt of a better way to get to the top of a slope as they boot-packed from the base lodge to the nearest ridge in those early days, the idea for the first chairlift came from another transportation hub – the Union Pacific Railroad. Averell Harriman, a prominent U.S. businessman and one of the company’s top dogs at the time, saw value in opening a European-style ski resort out west to encourage tourism and travel on the railway system. Efforts were focused on Sun Valley Resort in Ketchum, Idaho with Union Pacific bridge engineer James Curran helming the chairlift concept.
Curran based his chairlift idea on banana conveyor belts, which used hooks to move bunches above ground when they were loaded onto cargo ships. Through a variety of iterations that involved roller skates, rail yard prototypes, and testing lifts attached to the side of a moving truck, Curran’s idea saw the light of day. That wintery December in 1936, skiers flocked to Sun Valley to try the lift and ski what are still to this day some of the most iconic slopes in the lower 48.
While Sun Valley wasn’t the first ski resort to open in the country (Steamboat Springs, CO holds that title, opening in 1915), it was one of the first resorts to offer visitors an all-inclusive experience. Skiers could hit the slopes and take lessons during the day and then enjoy European-style dining, a pool, and other activities in the evening, without ever having to leave the small mountain enclave.
The Evolution of Sun Valley
Today, that very first lift is in the U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in Isheming, MI. Proctor Mountain no longer hosts skiers or riders, but Sun Valley Ski Resort maintains a certain magic that helped establish it as the country’s first all-inclusive ski resort in 1936. Consisting of Bald and Dollar mountains, the ski area offers nearly lift line-free skiing and riding all winter long. Idaho’s sunny skies grace the slopes often.
Nearly ninety years later, it’s much easier to catch a lift from bottom to top—visitors to Sun Valley have 18 to choose from, including one gondola, nine quads, three triple chairs, two double chairs, and three surface lifts. Curran would be proud to know the resort can now transport 29,717 skiers per hour, versus the original 400 his lift design curried. Skiers and snowboarders have 2,054 acres at their ski tips, and the longest run on the mountain (one of 121 total) is an impressive three miles long. Visitors still enjoy that all-inclusive vibe, skiing and riding during the day and wandering the resort’s storied halls in the evenings. On one such picture-lined wall, they find a photo of Curran, testing his prototype in the railyards of Omaha generations earlier.
