This 1964 Riblet still serves the majority of Mt. Ashland’s terrain.Massive breakover.Top layout with unloading and separate tension terminal.Top bullwheel.Tension carriage and counterweight.Unload ramp at tower 19.Towers 13-18.Lift line overview.Looking down the lift line.First section of the line.Loading at T1-2.View up from the loading area.Tower 1.Bottom bullwheel.Motor room in a vault at the bottom.
They sure don’t make them like they used to. This lift is a lot of fun to ride. Fast, steep, and bouncy. Serves some pretty killer terrain. Can’t speak as to its age other than super old but its seems very well maintained and has had few issues this season minus people ignoring the signs and riding single outside chair and kids/people out of there league misloading because its a tricky one to load.
Utah Lost Ski Area ProjectJanuary 8, 2023 / 8:25 pm
Which Riblet from 1948 are you referencing? As far as I know, the three 1949 Riblets all had the older style lattice towers. I believe Mount Baker’s old Chair 1 installed in 1952 was the first Riblet with these style towers.
Actually they were not tapered towers on THIS lift. They stopped them in 1956 (but the crossarm setup is what I thought was called that) but the triangle design (what I thought was tapered) went on until 1965.
I believe it may be older, I’m a local and I’ve heard that this lift is Mt. bachelors original ‘red chair’ and was given/sold to Mt Ashland. That may explain it looking older than it’s install date.
Mt Bachelors Red Chair or Chair Two as it was called when built was installed in 64 and replaced with a Yan triple in 1980. The original still spins at Sitzmark in Washington.
hi there, I am sorry if this is a silly question but I have an irrational fear of heights and suffer vertigo. I see that this lift has no bar.
Does it reach great heights? Is it bumpy when windy or scary overall?
I want to book a week at Mt Ashland and I am not sure if this is the right place for me, Ariel seems to be the only lift that actually reaches the top, and the advanced black trails which is where I want to snowboard
As an easterner, I have never ridden a lift with no bar (or with the bar up, except for one time when it got stuck), but I have a suggestion: hold on to the center pole.
Ariel is never truly high above the ground. It can get bumpy when windy, as the carriers are lightweight and easily deflected, but the top is quite exposed and they close it during most storms. The bottom is a little bumpy like all old Riblets, especially the short-pole style that Ariel is. There is some decent steep terrain off Windsor if you’re into trees. If Ariel is open, there is good skiing to be had in all 360 degrees, although some requires walking back to the base. Some of that 360 degree skiing is in the Bowl, which is actual legit steeps. Not long, but nice and schreddy.
Lift Blog 
There was a cable splice in 2017 after I watched the video of it.
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By a few accounts this lift came from Stevens. Any truth to that, and if so, any idea which chair it was originally?
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This Riblet looks older than 1964 to me.
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They sure don’t make them like they used to. This lift is a lot of fun to ride. Fast, steep, and bouncy. Serves some pretty killer terrain. Can’t speak as to its age other than super old but its seems very well maintained and has had few issues this season minus people ignoring the signs and riding single outside chair and kids/people out of there league misloading because its a tricky one to load.
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What’s tricky about it? I skied Mt A for three years, and to me it just felt like loading a short-bale Riblet double always does.
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1964 was the last year Riblet used the older 1950s tower design.
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Towers date back to 1948 and they’re called tapered towers
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Which Riblet from 1948 are you referencing? As far as I know, the three 1949 Riblets all had the older style lattice towers. I believe Mount Baker’s old Chair 1 installed in 1952 was the first Riblet with these style towers.
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I meant, the tower design dates back then. You’ll see one in this photo from 1948-49 or 49-50
https://www.newenglandskihistory.com/lifts/viewlift.php?id=19
First photo to the right.
Not an actual Riblet.
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@Chairlift World, The tower in the photo you provided was most likely a retrofit, I’m guessing from the early 60s from the tower design.
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It’s actually not. That photo was taken when the AS&W was first opened and in 1948. Riblet’s first double also had them.
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Actually they were not tapered towers on THIS lift. They stopped them in 1956 (but the crossarm setup is what I thought was called that) but the triangle design (what I thought was tapered) went on until 1965.
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Yes. At first I thought the entire design was called tapered towers but that’s a different king with the same triangular crossarms.
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Nope, installed 1964
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It is. Installed here 1964 but it was originally from another mountain.
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I believe it may be older, I’m a local and I’ve heard that this lift is Mt. bachelors original ‘red chair’ and was given/sold to Mt Ashland. That may explain it looking older than it’s install date.
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Mt. Bachelor’s original Red Chair is at Sitzmark, Washington.
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i dont think it looks older than 1964, because they made lifts with that tower design until 1964 and everything looks like it came from around 1964
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Mt Bachelors Red Chair or Chair Two as it was called when built was installed in 64 and replaced with a Yan triple in 1980. The original still spins at Sitzmark in Washington.
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hi there, I am sorry if this is a silly question but I have an irrational fear of heights and suffer vertigo. I see that this lift has no bar.
Does it reach great heights? Is it bumpy when windy or scary overall?
I want to book a week at Mt Ashland and I am not sure if this is the right place for me, Ariel seems to be the only lift that actually reaches the top, and the advanced black trails which is where I want to snowboard
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As an easterner, I have never ridden a lift with no bar (or with the bar up, except for one time when it got stuck), but I have a suggestion: hold on to the center pole.
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Ariel is never truly high above the ground. It can get bumpy when windy, as the carriers are lightweight and easily deflected, but the top is quite exposed and they close it during most storms. The bottom is a little bumpy like all old Riblets, especially the short-pole style that Ariel is. There is some decent steep terrain off Windsor if you’re into trees. If Ariel is open, there is good skiing to be had in all 360 degrees, although some requires walking back to the base. Some of that 360 degree skiing is in the Bowl, which is actual legit steeps. Not long, but nice and schreddy.
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