Lower station with counterweight, relocated from Aspen Mountain.Tension bullwheel.Top Riblet vault drive.View down the line.Lattice towers.Breakover towers up top.Mix of Riblet tube towers and Heron lattice towers.View up the line.The counterweight.
These happen to be Heron lattice towers. The lift is what remains of Chair #3 at Aspen when it was decommissioned. They had issues with it after relocating, and Riblet was brought in to retrofit some stuff.
They may have decided to buy brand-new carriers because they weren’t buying an entirely new lift. Also, as V12 says, there were issues with the relocation (I have heard bits and pieces but not the whole story) so perhaps carriers were part of the problem.
Aside from the top section and sheave assemblies (probably Riblet retrofits?), these towers look exactly like the ones on the Thunderbird chair at Snoqualmie WA, which was a single-pole Heron double. Some of its towers are still standing.
It looks a lot like looking glass, at winter park ski resort here are pictures https://liftblog.com/looking-glass-winter-park-co/ but on looking glass you get off on a ramp then the lift turns, but on Segundo you get off whale the lift is turning.
I don’t think that is accurate. The single chair at Aspen gets a bit confusing, as it was billed as the world’s longest chairlift, but it was actually 2 different lifts. The bottom terminal and a couple towers of lift 1 are still in their original location in town, and have been turned into a town park. The upper portion, (original) lift 2, started life as various parts harvested from mining trams in the area, and was a bi-cable lift with a track rope and haul rope. I have no record what happened to it, but it frequently dripped grease on riders when at Aspen, so I’d have to assume it was scrapped. Bob Heron returned to Aspen in 1954 to install lift 3, and as far as I know, it was always built as a double.
As far as I know, Lift 2 was never a Riblet double. We might be talking about different chairlifts. Originally, Lift 1 was an American Steel & Wire single that ran from town, up to where the top of Lift 6 is now. If you are at the top of the current Lift 1A, you can see where the lift line originally continued on further. Then Lift 2 was another single, also built by American Steel & Wire, but it was a bi-cable lift, built repurposing old mining tram parts. It ran from the top of Lift 1 (and eventually Lift 6) up to Sundeck. If you stand at the top of Lift 6 and look towards Sundeck, you can make out the old lift line. It was removed in the 1980s, and no lift occupies the line today. It was removed from the trail map for the 87-88 season, and I assume physically removed the summer before as well, but I have no way to confirm that. Here is a photo of Lift 2: https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/aspendailynews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/3d/03d6b162-4226-11e9-b700-e70c98553c64/5c8344c19ebd4.image.jpg?resize=1396%2C1399
I’m friends with a man who operated lift 1 and lift 2. He told me the company used a lot of lifts 2’s parts (including the chairs) to fill mineshafts when it was dissembled, because it’s bicable system served no purpose for a reuse on any other lifts.
I’m friends with a man who operated lift 1 and lift 2, and he told me that they used the remnants of the single lift 2 (including the chairs) to fill mineshafts on Aspen mountain. Mainly because the lift did not serve a repurpose with its bicable system, and they were very limited to the technology of their time to bring all that spare metal down the mountain. I’m working with the Aspen museum to get this historically documented, but it’s hard to because there’s not a lot of people left that can confirm that.
It looks like Segundo is slated to be replaced next summer (2023) with the former Lenawee triple from A-Basin. While I’m sad to see it go, I’m not surprised. Most of the lift was originally built in 1954.
A little information from a local in case anyone was wondering where the lift came from. The return station is the old lift 3 at Aspen built by Heron but the towers are from the original lift #1 which was removed in 1971 and installed at Sunlight in 1973. Bob Heron worked with American Steel and wire in 1946 to construct the single chairlift.
I wrote the following article in February 1996. It might be of interest to you.
The World’s Longest Ski Lift
Construction on Aspen’s first chairlifts was completed in December 1946 with opening ceremonies held 11 January 1947. The “world’s longest ski lift” was actually two separate lifts; No. 1, base to Midway, (length 8,480 ft., vertical rise 2,574 ft.) and No. 2, Midway to Sundeck (length 5,210 ft., vertical rise 713 ft.) Total length was just over 2.5 miles. Built by American Steel and Wire, they were installed by Heron Engineering Co. A trip from the base to the Sundeck took 45 minutes, excluding time spent in long lift lines. Heavy, orange canvas coats were attached to the single chairs for protection on cold, windy days.
No. 2 began life as a mine tram, converted and relocated to serve the upper reaches of Ajax. It was a bi-cable system; stationary track rope, moving haul rope and two-wheel carriages on each chair. Such a system is used where there are long (and invariably high) spans between towers and No. 2 had one, 85 feet, over Tourtelotte Park. This was the scariest part of the whole ride, made all the scarier because you were by yourself. You felt as though you were being launched into space, though any silence associated with this was broken by the ominous buzzing of the chair carriage on the track rope overhead. No. 2 had less capacity than No. 1 and was a bottleneck, caused by people skiing the upper mountain, namely Buckhorn Run joining those unloading from No. 1. It was replaced about 1959 by a Riblet double chair. It was later removed entirely; slack apparently taken up by No. 3, Spar Gulch to Sundeck, now a high-speed quad.
No. 1 held out till 1971 when it was replaced by two overlapping SLI (Ski Lift International) double chairs, 1A and 1B (or 8)(Ruthies). The old No. 1 terminal and a couple of towers were left in place as mementos.
Other Aspen lifts followed: No. 3, 1953, double, Spar Gulch to Sundeck (Heron); No. 4, 1956, double, Little Nell (Riblet), replacing 1947 Constam beginner’s T-bar; No. 5, 1959, double, Bell Mountain (Heron) and No. 6, 1961, double, Spar Gulch to Midway (Riblet). The Silver Queen gondola was added in 1986 (Poma).
Except for No. 6* (F.I.S.), all the lifts from over 30 years ago have been replaced and for good reason; equipment wears out or becomes outdated, usually both. All that’s left of my nostalgic Aspen picture is the mountain itself, carved with trails with names like Silver Bell, Roch, Dipsy Doodle and Magnifico. Aspen Mountain and its ski runs is the one thing that will remain constant in a town that has seen much growth and change in the past 50 years.
Lift Blog 
Is the top station riblet or heron?
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Top is riblet the towers are heron
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They look very similar to American Steel & Wire towers.
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Actually, there is a very simple explanation for that. Bob Heron designed at least some of American Steel and Wire’s lifts.
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They might been American steel and wire never thought of that
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These happen to be Heron lattice towers. The lift is what remains of Chair #3 at Aspen when it was decommissioned. They had issues with it after relocating, and Riblet was brought in to retrofit some stuff.
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Why did they replace the chairs? The Heron ones were also centerpole. To me, it looks like a waste of money.
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They may have decided to buy brand-new carriers because they weren’t buying an entirely new lift. Also, as V12 says, there were issues with the relocation (I have heard bits and pieces but not the whole story) so perhaps carriers were part of the problem.
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Aside from the top section and sheave assemblies (probably Riblet retrofits?), these towers look exactly like the ones on the Thunderbird chair at Snoqualmie WA, which was a single-pole Heron double. Some of its towers are still standing.
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It looks a lot like looking glass, at winter park ski resort here are pictures https://liftblog.com/looking-glass-winter-park-co/ but on looking glass you get off on a ramp then the lift turns, but on Segundo you get off whale the lift is turning.
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Sorry, I’m just not seeing the similarity. This is a modified Heron and Looking Glass is a straight Riblet. The only similarity I see is the chairs.
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If this was the former Lift 3 at Aspen, then this was originally an American Steel single at Aspen.
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it was placed next to the single chair at Aspen to help when they got busy to relieve lines on the single chair.
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I don’t think that is accurate. The single chair at Aspen gets a bit confusing, as it was billed as the world’s longest chairlift, but it was actually 2 different lifts. The bottom terminal and a couple towers of lift 1 are still in their original location in town, and have been turned into a town park. The upper portion, (original) lift 2, started life as various parts harvested from mining trams in the area, and was a bi-cable lift with a track rope and haul rope. I have no record what happened to it, but it frequently dripped grease on riders when at Aspen, so I’d have to assume it was scrapped. Bob Heron returned to Aspen in 1954 to install lift 3, and as far as I know, it was always built as a double.
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Here is the chairlift in its original location at Aspen. http://www.chairlift.org/pics/aspen/as41.jpg
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I didn’t know that about the original lift 2. I had thought the Riblet double that ran in that alignment was the original.
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As far as I know, Lift 2 was never a Riblet double. We might be talking about different chairlifts. Originally, Lift 1 was an American Steel & Wire single that ran from town, up to where the top of Lift 6 is now. If you are at the top of the current Lift 1A, you can see where the lift line originally continued on further. Then Lift 2 was another single, also built by American Steel & Wire, but it was a bi-cable lift, built repurposing old mining tram parts. It ran from the top of Lift 1 (and eventually Lift 6) up to Sundeck. If you stand at the top of Lift 6 and look towards Sundeck, you can make out the old lift line. It was removed in the 1980s, and no lift occupies the line today. It was removed from the trail map for the 87-88 season, and I assume physically removed the summer before as well, but I have no way to confirm that. Here is a photo of Lift 2: https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/aspendailynews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/3d/03d6b162-4226-11e9-b700-e70c98553c64/5c8344c19ebd4.image.jpg?resize=1396%2C1399
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Apparently the bicable single was replaced by the Riblet in 1958.
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I’m friends with a man who operated lift 1 and lift 2. He told me the company used a lot of lifts 2’s parts (including the chairs) to fill mineshafts when it was dissembled, because it’s bicable system served no purpose for a reuse on any other lifts.
LikeLike
I’m friends with a man who operated lift 1 and lift 2, and he told me that they used the remnants of the single lift 2 (including the chairs) to fill mineshafts on Aspen mountain. Mainly because the lift did not serve a repurpose with its bicable system, and they were very limited to the technology of their time to bring all that spare metal down the mountain. I’m working with the Aspen museum to get this historically documented, but it’s hard to because there’s not a lot of people left that can confirm that.
LikeLike
It looks like Segundo is slated to be replaced next summer (2023) with the former Lenawee triple from A-Basin. While I’m sad to see it go, I’m not surprised. Most of the lift was originally built in 1954.
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A little information from a local in case anyone was wondering where the lift came from. The return station is the old lift 3 at Aspen built by Heron but the towers are from the original lift #1 which was removed in 1971 and installed at Sunlight in 1973. Bob Heron worked with American Steel and wire in 1946 to construct the single chairlift.
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A nice write up and tribute to Segundo by one of the Denver news sites.
https://kdvr.com/news/local/colorados-oldest-chairlift-will-retire-at-the-end-of-the-ski-season/
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I wrote the following article in February 1996. It might be of interest to you.
The World’s Longest Ski Lift
Construction on Aspen’s first chairlifts was completed in December 1946 with opening ceremonies held 11 January 1947. The “world’s longest ski lift” was actually two separate lifts; No. 1, base to Midway, (length 8,480 ft., vertical rise 2,574 ft.) and No. 2, Midway to Sundeck (length 5,210 ft., vertical rise 713 ft.) Total length was just over 2.5 miles. Built by American Steel and Wire, they were installed by Heron Engineering Co. A trip from the base to the Sundeck took 45 minutes, excluding time spent in long lift lines. Heavy, orange canvas coats were attached to the single chairs for protection on cold, windy days.
No. 2 began life as a mine tram, converted and relocated to serve the upper reaches of Ajax. It was a bi-cable system; stationary track rope, moving haul rope and two-wheel carriages on each chair. Such a system is used where there are long (and invariably high) spans between towers and No. 2 had one, 85 feet, over Tourtelotte Park. This was the scariest part of the whole ride, made all the scarier because you were by yourself. You felt as though you were being launched into space, though any silence associated with this was broken by the ominous buzzing of the chair carriage on the track rope overhead. No. 2 had less capacity than No. 1 and was a bottleneck, caused by people skiing the upper mountain, namely Buckhorn Run joining those unloading from No. 1. It was replaced about 1959 by a Riblet double chair. It was later removed entirely; slack apparently taken up by No. 3, Spar Gulch to Sundeck, now a high-speed quad.
No. 1 held out till 1971 when it was replaced by two overlapping SLI (Ski Lift International) double chairs, 1A and 1B (or 8)(Ruthies). The old No. 1 terminal and a couple of towers were left in place as mementos.
Other Aspen lifts followed: No. 3, 1953, double, Spar Gulch to Sundeck (Heron); No. 4, 1956, double, Little Nell (Riblet), replacing 1947 Constam beginner’s T-bar; No. 5, 1959, double, Bell Mountain (Heron) and No. 6, 1961, double, Spar Gulch to Midway (Riblet). The Silver Queen gondola was added in 1986 (Poma).
Except for No. 6* (F.I.S.), all the lifts from over 30 years ago have been replaced and for good reason; equipment wears out or becomes outdated, usually both. All that’s left of my nostalgic Aspen picture is the mountain itself, carved with trails with names like Silver Bell, Roch, Dipsy Doodle and Magnifico. Aspen Mountain and its ski runs is the one thing that will remain constant in a town that has seen much growth and change in the past 50 years.
Bill Fetcher
*Replaced since this writing.
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Still such a shame to have lost a true unique beauty. Nothing like this will probably come again. R.I.P.
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