This lift was relocated as part of the Big Blue realignment.Yan fixed drive down below.Arriving at the return-tension station.Unloading ramp and operator house.Lift line.
I can add some clarity here. The mountain meadow chair is indeed the old High Camp chair. That chair was originally a double chair but was upgraded to a triple after a few years. I am not sure its clear where the triple lift came from but if I had to guess I would actually say it came from the old Headwall triple chair before it was replaced with a six pack.
With regards to Silverado that chair is indeed the old Lost Lake Chair, but the Lost Lake Chair was originally Super Squaw which was a triple chair before it was replaced by Squaw One Express. Super Squaw was a triple upgrade of the original Squaw One Double Chair. Squaw One Express was originally named Squaw Peak Express.
No that is not right either. Bailey’s Beach is still there, and actually they took the footrests off that lift last summer. That lift’s chairs are from when they moved Lost Lake to Silverado. Some of the chairs were put on Bailey’s. You can see the change between before and after last summer in the pictures at https://liftblog.com/baileys-beach-squaw-valley-ca/
Can anyone clarify the history of lifts that came before squaw one express? From what I understand, the first lift was the squaw one heron double installed 1949, then it was removed and upgraded to super squaw in 1978 then lost lake in 1989, and now it’s an express.
Is this all true? If so, why so many different lifts? What was the point of removing super squaw, was there something wrong with it?
And my biggest question is: did all these lifts have their top stations where the squaw one express top station is now? Because I found an old photo of the original heron double and it looks like the top station is closer to the top of headwall express… could it have gone up headwall face??
(http://www.chairlift.org/pics/squaw/sq10.jpg)
Also, why was lost lake called lost lake? Just curious, it’s an interesting name.
If anyone has photos of these old lifts, especially super squaw, please share!
Squaw One Express was installed in 1989. It replaced Super Squaw, on the Super Squaw line. The Super Squaw triple was relocated to a line to the lookers left of the old lift, replacing cornice 1. Here is a 1990 trail map that should illustrate it better:
Also I see many people confusing Lost Lake and Super Squaw, Lost Lake was a lift which ran parallel on the left of Super Squaw. In fact I belive the top terminal of Lost Lake is still there, in one of Peters pictures you can see it.
I’m curious if anyone has a map showing the super squaw lift in its original location. From what I’m hearing it sounds like cornice 2 was the same lift as super squaw, just moved and renamed.
Also, what’s the deal with the quad squaw peak express lift in 90’s map that appears to be going in the exact same place as modern day squaw one? In the map it looks like it’s maybe slightly higher up towards tower 16 but seems shockingly close to where squaw one express is now. I’m wondering if maybe it was actually the same lift as squaw one express and just used to be named squaw peak express.
Also just one final interesting observation- every time I ride up headwall express today I see several old cement lift pole foundations off to the right just on top of the face. If you connected them all with a line of best fit it would point almost exactly straight down toward top of squaw one, not to the left at all, suggesting that some lift before squaw one didn’t stop where squaw one express stops now but kept going to the very tippy top of headwall. This has been the greatest mystery for me for years because I just can’t seem to figure out what lift would go up that high and be at the same paralel longitude as the path of squaw one express. I have been skiing at squaw every year for my entire life and all the lift history is absolutely fascinating. It’s the greatest puzzle I’ve ever started solving.
Lost Lake was Super Squaw, and is now Silverado, now in it’s third location.
When Cornice 1 was removed, Super Squaw was relocated to where Cornice 1 was in 89. Squaw 1 the HS quad was then put where Super Squaw was. In 89 I think they originally called the HS quad Super Squaw to add to the confusion but that lift is Squaw 1 now.
Looks like maybe I figured it out. There’s an old lift from 1952 called the jigback tram that went in that exact location. Here’s the map I’m referring to:
Lift Blog 
When this chair was high camp, where did it’s new Triple chairs come from?
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I believe it was from the old Squaw Creek triple which was replaced by Squaw One Express.
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I should have said Lost Lake.
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Didn’t Lost Lake become Silverado? There would have been some extra chairs but maybe not enough for High Camp.
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Can’t have been form lost lake because those chairs had footrests and these didn’t… unless they for some reason took them off.
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I don’t think these chairs are from lost lake. They don’t have footrests
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I can add some clarity here. The mountain meadow chair is indeed the old High Camp chair. That chair was originally a double chair but was upgraded to a triple after a few years. I am not sure its clear where the triple lift came from but if I had to guess I would actually say it came from the old Headwall triple chair before it was replaced with a six pack.
With regards to Silverado that chair is indeed the old Lost Lake Chair, but the Lost Lake Chair was originally Super Squaw which was a triple chair before it was replaced by Squaw One Express. Super Squaw was a triple upgrade of the original Squaw One Double Chair. Squaw One Express was originally named Squaw Peak Express.
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In regards to the footrests on being on this chairlift, it did have them. Photo was taken when the lift was known as Bailey’s Beach.
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No that is not right either. Bailey’s Beach is still there, and actually they took the footrests off that lift last summer. That lift’s chairs are from when they moved Lost Lake to Silverado. Some of the chairs were put on Bailey’s. You can see the change between before and after last summer in the pictures at https://liftblog.com/baileys-beach-squaw-valley-ca/
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So where did the chairs without footrests come from?
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Same chairs, just cut off the foot rests.
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Can anyone clarify the history of lifts that came before squaw one express? From what I understand, the first lift was the squaw one heron double installed 1949, then it was removed and upgraded to super squaw in 1978 then lost lake in 1989, and now it’s an express.
Is this all true? If so, why so many different lifts? What was the point of removing super squaw, was there something wrong with it?
And my biggest question is: did all these lifts have their top stations where the squaw one express top station is now? Because I found an old photo of the original heron double and it looks like the top station is closer to the top of headwall express… could it have gone up headwall face??
(http://www.chairlift.org/pics/squaw/sq10.jpg)
Also, why was lost lake called lost lake? Just curious, it’s an interesting name.
If anyone has photos of these old lifts, especially super squaw, please share!
LikeLike
Squaw One Express was installed in 1989. It replaced Super Squaw, on the Super Squaw line. The Super Squaw triple was relocated to a line to the lookers left of the old lift, replacing cornice 1. Here is a 1990 trail map that should illustrate it better:
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Also I see many people confusing Lost Lake and Super Squaw, Lost Lake was a lift which ran parallel on the left of Super Squaw. In fact I belive the top terminal of Lost Lake is still there, in one of Peters pictures you can see it.
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Well the mast is there, certainly.
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Lost Lake was gone by 1996.
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I’m curious if anyone has a map showing the super squaw lift in its original location. From what I’m hearing it sounds like cornice 2 was the same lift as super squaw, just moved and renamed.
Also, what’s the deal with the quad squaw peak express lift in 90’s map that appears to be going in the exact same place as modern day squaw one? In the map it looks like it’s maybe slightly higher up towards tower 16 but seems shockingly close to where squaw one express is now. I’m wondering if maybe it was actually the same lift as squaw one express and just used to be named squaw peak express.
Also just one final interesting observation- every time I ride up headwall express today I see several old cement lift pole foundations off to the right just on top of the face. If you connected them all with a line of best fit it would point almost exactly straight down toward top of squaw one, not to the left at all, suggesting that some lift before squaw one didn’t stop where squaw one express stops now but kept going to the very tippy top of headwall. This has been the greatest mystery for me for years because I just can’t seem to figure out what lift would go up that high and be at the same paralel longitude as the path of squaw one express. I have been skiing at squaw every year for my entire life and all the lift history is absolutely fascinating. It’s the greatest puzzle I’ve ever started solving.
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Lost Lake was Super Squaw, and is now Silverado, now in it’s third location.
When Cornice 1 was removed, Super Squaw was relocated to where Cornice 1 was in 89. Squaw 1 the HS quad was then put where Super Squaw was. In 89 I think they originally called the HS quad Super Squaw to add to the confusion but that lift is Squaw 1 now.
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Looks like maybe I figured it out. There’s an old lift from 1952 called the jigback tram that went in that exact location. Here’s the map I’m referring to:
Also confirmed from another map in the 60’s:
Click to access 1521598417.pdf
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