lift 1 and lift 2 were single chairs built by American Steel and Wire, Bob Heron was the engineer. Lift 1 was 8200 or 8800 feet long, there was a sign at the bottom that gave the length and said “Worlds longest chair lift”. Lift 2 was a converted mining tram, a bi-cable lift. It was replaced by a Riblet double around 1960. Lift 3 was a Heron double built around 1953, it was replaced sometime in the 60s. I don’t know anything about squaw 1 at palisades but it could not have been built in 1947, maybe 1957. American Steel and wire did not build doubles and Heron did not start his company until 1953
I am assuming those are both potential gondolas to interconnect the resorts. Option 1 would probably not work as it traverses many private homes between Buttermilk and Snowmass. Option 2 is better, but still faces some of those same problems between Ajax, Highlands, and Buttermilk. These problems can be eliminated by having the mountains be connected by points outside of their respective base areas and by making them three independent lifts instead of one continuous line from Ajax all the way to Snowmass.
In my opinion, the best way to connect the four would be the following. A peak-to-peak type 3S gondola from the Sundeck at Ajax to Cloud Nine at Highlands. A regular gondola from the parking garage at the base of Highlands to Cliffhouse at Buttermilk. Buttermilk and Snowmass are on the same ridge, so I think it would just make more sense to connect the two with some additional lifts/trails in the middle between them. However, I think there may be an environmental issue with that, in which case a gondola from Elk Camp at Snowmass to Cliffhouse at Buttermilk would be fine.
As the crow flies, it’s about 2.55 miles in a straight line from the top of the West Buttermilk Express lift to the top of Elk Camp lift.
I think there’d need to be at least four lifts if Buttermilk and Snowmass were to be merged via the construction of trail pods: two high speed quads running to the top of Burnt Mountain, one from Two Creeks and another from a point 1.6 miles below the summit on Spring Creek. There’d also need to be a high speed quad also about 1.5 miles along, about halfway between the east Burnt Mountain lift and West Buttermilk, and a fourth high speed quad from the bottom of this middle lift to a point just above the top of West Buttermilk Express lift.
Agree that a gondola would function as the best means of navigating between Buttermilk and Aspen Highlands. An alternate point to run this transfer gondola to would be to the bridge that crosses Sterner Creek and connects the Tiehack Express lift to the Aspen High School’s recreation center, but that would have too much private property in the way.
As for the Aspen Mountain-Aspen Highlands 3S connection, I think it would make more sense for the Aspen Highlands terminal to be at the Merry-Go-Round, as that’s the mid-mountain hub, ensuring more convenient access from all lifts.
Original chair 2 was a bicable single, it was a converted mining tram, engineered by Bob Heron in 1947, it was replaced by a Riblet double in 1957. Original chair 3 was a double built by Heron in 1953, it was replaced by a Riblet double in the sixties and eventually became the Ajax express
Anyone know what happened to the original #2 lift (the single)? I heard from a retired liftie that they dumped the remnants of that lift down a mineshaft, and that he was there when they did it. However, I heard through Tim Willoughby (whose father and brother raised the money to build Lift #1 and Lift #2) that the company would never do that because they were on a really tight budget back in the day, and that instead they used some of #2’s chairs as back up chairs for Lift #2 (Which I’m not sure how that would work consider #2 was a bi-cable chair). Either way, I’ve been trying to crack this mystery for half my life. If any of you know something, please share!
There’s no specifics about what happened to it in those comments but it is described as being built from old mining equipment—and thus likely not that useful for spare parts—so perhaps the scrapping theory is likely.
Lift Blog 
What is 1A?
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Shadow Mountain.
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lift 1 and lift 2 were single chairs built by American Steel and Wire, Bob Heron was the engineer. Lift 1 was 8200 or 8800 feet long, there was a sign at the bottom that gave the length and said “Worlds longest chair lift”. Lift 2 was a converted mining tram, a bi-cable lift. It was replaced by a Riblet double around 1960. Lift 3 was a Heron double built around 1953, it was replaced sometime in the 60s. I don’t know anything about squaw 1 at palisades but it could not have been built in 1947, maybe 1957. American Steel and wire did not build doubles and Heron did not start his company until 1953
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would this work?
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I am assuming those are both potential gondolas to interconnect the resorts. Option 1 would probably not work as it traverses many private homes between Buttermilk and Snowmass. Option 2 is better, but still faces some of those same problems between Ajax, Highlands, and Buttermilk. These problems can be eliminated by having the mountains be connected by points outside of their respective base areas and by making them three independent lifts instead of one continuous line from Ajax all the way to Snowmass.
In my opinion, the best way to connect the four would be the following. A peak-to-peak type 3S gondola from the Sundeck at Ajax to Cloud Nine at Highlands. A regular gondola from the parking garage at the base of Highlands to Cliffhouse at Buttermilk. Buttermilk and Snowmass are on the same ridge, so I think it would just make more sense to connect the two with some additional lifts/trails in the middle between them. However, I think there may be an environmental issue with that, in which case a gondola from Elk Camp at Snowmass to Cliffhouse at Buttermilk would be fine.
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As the crow flies, it’s about 2.55 miles in a straight line from the top of the West Buttermilk Express lift to the top of Elk Camp lift.
I think there’d need to be at least four lifts if Buttermilk and Snowmass were to be merged via the construction of trail pods: two high speed quads running to the top of Burnt Mountain, one from Two Creeks and another from a point 1.6 miles below the summit on Spring Creek. There’d also need to be a high speed quad also about 1.5 miles along, about halfway between the east Burnt Mountain lift and West Buttermilk, and a fourth high speed quad from the bottom of this middle lift to a point just above the top of West Buttermilk Express lift.
Agree that a gondola would function as the best means of navigating between Buttermilk and Aspen Highlands. An alternate point to run this transfer gondola to would be to the bridge that crosses Sterner Creek and connects the Tiehack Express lift to the Aspen High School’s recreation center, but that would have too much private property in the way.
As for the Aspen Mountain-Aspen Highlands 3S connection, I think it would make more sense for the Aspen Highlands terminal to be at the Merry-Go-Round, as that’s the mid-mountain hub, ensuring more convenient access from all lifts.
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What I are you referring to by “Ajax”
Sorry for my cluelessness
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Ajax is what most people call Aspen Mountain (the main one).
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Here is a photo of the original chair 2 https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-skiers-in-chair-lift-ascending-the-slopes-in-aspen-news-photo/540256185
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Original chair 2 was a bicable single, it was a converted mining tram, engineered by Bob Heron in 1947, it was replaced by a Riblet double in 1957. Original chair 3 was a double built by Heron in 1953, it was replaced by a Riblet double in the sixties and eventually became the Ajax express
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When will Lift 1A be built? I noticed it was on the list but then later got removed. Does anyone know anything about this?
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The new 1a lift won’t be built until the hotel is built.
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What will happen to GR quad ?
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Sold to Maverick Mountain, MT
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Possible lift numbers:
1A shadow mountain
2 Silver Queen Gondola
3 Ajax X
4 Little nell
5 Bell Mountain
6 FIS
7 Heros
8 Ruthes
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1A- Shadow Mountain
3- Ajax
4- Little Nell
5- Bell Mountain
6- FIS
7- Gent’s Ridge
8- Ruthie’s
9- Hero’s
There is no 2 anymore and the Queen doesn’t have a number.
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Anyone know what happened to the original #2 lift (the single)? I heard from a retired liftie that they dumped the remnants of that lift down a mineshaft, and that he was there when they did it. However, I heard through Tim Willoughby (whose father and brother raised the money to build Lift #1 and Lift #2) that the company would never do that because they were on a really tight budget back in the day, and that instead they used some of #2’s chairs as back up chairs for Lift #2 (Which I’m not sure how that would work consider #2 was a bi-cable chair). Either way, I’ve been trying to crack this mystery for half my life. If any of you know something, please share!
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There is some discussion about the original # 2 in the comments of this liftblog page: https://liftblog.com/segundo-sunlight-co/
There’s no specifics about what happened to it in those comments but it is described as being built from old mining equipment—and thus likely not that useful for spare parts—so perhaps the scrapping theory is likely.
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