As the name suggests, this lift is a very early CTEC model.Top drive terminal.View down the lift line.Tower 7.Lower part of the lift line.Enterprise return terminal.View up the line.Counterweight tensioning system.Lift overview.Side view of the bottom station.
Yes. Thiokol was a big multimodal corporate behemoth thingie which spun off some of its subsidiaries in the early 70s. LMC and CTEC carried on the snowcat and lift banners, respectively. (You probly already know that SkyTrac was founded by former CTEC fellas.) The remnants of the original Thiokol are now Northrop Grumman properties in some form. I can’t follow. Lots of corporate rebadging and selling and spinning off and whatnot. Might not be as shady as it sounds, but then, government contracts and DoD usually means shady.
Anyway, if you’re heading through far Northern UT and want a diversion or just to avoid Tremonton, grab a burger at the Golden Spike Burger Bonanza in Corrine, just outside Brigham City, then head west on 83. Just north of the turn for the actual Golden Spike location, which is a good diversion for some minutes in its own right, there’s a Utah-weird rocket display. Goooooogle maps says it’s now the Northrop-Grumman Rocket Garden. Not much of a garden, but lots of rocket shells. Thiokol, I mean ATK, I meant Orbital ATK, I mean Northrop-Grumman Space Lasers is based out in the desert surrounding the “Garden”. All sorta doins thereabouts. Rocket engine tests, engineering, technology, probly aliens, who knows. Also, too, you should head past the Golden Spike location and hit up Spiral Jetty. WooWoo that would make someone from Sedona or Shasta sad cos it’s like Utah and stuff. Don’t get buried by tumbleweeds. They’s lots out there.
ATK will always be to me, the maker of the US Space Shuttle boosters. And the Thiokol lifts and snowcats/Spryte utility track vehicles. Also, having learned to ski at Snowbasin when I was a lad, the Thiokol built Little Cat and Wildcat lifts, along with the 1979 CTEC lift held special meaning to me. (and the 2 well built Stadeli lifts- Becker and Porky)
Anyone know the last time it was operating. I’ve been going too Paoli since 2020 and the only lifts that have been open since then to now have been the double, triple, quad, and carpets.
My last record of riding this lift was February 19, 2022. I’ve seen it spin as recently as November 3, 2025, but they were running it last fall and it didn’t operate during the season, so not sure whether it’s fit for customers yet.
Lift Blog 
That drive house is cool, but those chairs are not CTEC. They look Hall.
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Chairs are late model Thiokol.
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Not going to lie, they kinda resemble a hall.
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Yup. A few of us have noted that over the years. The towers do as well in a way.
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Is Thiokol just the earlier version of what later on became CTEC
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Yes. Thiokol was a big multimodal corporate behemoth thingie which spun off some of its subsidiaries in the early 70s. LMC and CTEC carried on the snowcat and lift banners, respectively. (You probly already know that SkyTrac was founded by former CTEC fellas.) The remnants of the original Thiokol are now Northrop Grumman properties in some form. I can’t follow. Lots of corporate rebadging and selling and spinning off and whatnot. Might not be as shady as it sounds, but then, government contracts and DoD usually means shady.
Anyway, if you’re heading through far Northern UT and want a diversion or just to avoid Tremonton, grab a burger at the Golden Spike Burger Bonanza in Corrine, just outside Brigham City, then head west on 83. Just north of the turn for the actual Golden Spike location, which is a good diversion for some minutes in its own right, there’s a Utah-weird rocket display. Goooooogle maps says it’s now the Northrop-Grumman Rocket Garden. Not much of a garden, but lots of rocket shells. Thiokol, I mean ATK, I meant Orbital ATK, I mean Northrop-Grumman Space Lasers is based out in the desert surrounding the “Garden”. All sorta doins thereabouts. Rocket engine tests, engineering, technology, probly aliens, who knows. Also, too, you should head past the Golden Spike location and hit up Spiral Jetty. WooWoo that would make someone from Sedona or Shasta sad cos it’s like Utah and stuff. Don’t get buried by tumbleweeds. They’s lots out there.
LikeLike
ATK will always be to me, the maker of the US Space Shuttle boosters. And the Thiokol lifts and snowcats/Spryte utility track vehicles. Also, having learned to ski at Snowbasin when I was a lad, the Thiokol built Little Cat and Wildcat lifts, along with the 1979 CTEC lift held special meaning to me. (and the 2 well built Stadeli lifts- Becker and Porky)
LikeLike
Anyone know the last time it was operating. I’ve been going too Paoli since 2020 and the only lifts that have been open since then to now have been the double, triple, quad, and carpets.
LikeLike
My last record of riding this lift was February 19, 2022. I’ve seen it spin as recently as November 3, 2025, but they were running it last fall and it didn’t operate during the season, so not sure whether it’s fit for customers yet.
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