I believe the ringer double was actually a very early detachable lift.
from skilifts.org:
“Although in 1952, Ringer was hurting for lift parts for a lift that he recently installed at Snow Summit in California, which made history as America’s first monocable detachable lift. The lift opened in January of 1953 and had a length of 5,000 feet with a vertical of 1,500 feet. For this lift, Ringer used the automatic couplings off old German cable-car sets Ringer made the necessary modifications to make this lift work. Each chair had a sheave with the clutch that was attached to the grip. The lift was operated by a person who pushed the chairs around the contour to the area where the riders would board the lift. Then the operator would push the chair further to a spot where the spring-loaded clutch would open the jaw and then close onto the moving haul rope. When the chair arrived at the top station, the clutch would disengage, allowing the grip to detach from the haul rope. Once the riders unloaded from the chair, a lift operator would then push the chair around the contour and send it back down. Unfortunately, the final story on this detachable lift wasn’t a happy one. Dick Kun, who is the president of Big Bear Resorts, which owns Snow Summit remembers “The design was unnecessarily advanced and complicated for the technology of the times. It was labor-and-parts intensive.” The first season the lift operated, a chair fell of the haul rope when its clutch failed to engage properly. The riders sustained injuries, but luckily didn’t die. But the fallowing summer, the chair derailed on the uphill side, knocking the sheave off the chair as it crashed into a tower dropping the chair and killing one passenger. The lift was never operated again after this incident.” http://www.skilifts.org/old/chairlift_manufacturers_ringer.htm
Looks like there is a new project involving two new lifts per the San Bernardino National Forest Projects Page. Not much info available yet just a short description.
“Big Bear Mountain Resort Master Development Plan Projects”
“Expand and connect Bear Mountain and Snow Summit SUP boundaries; grade trails and terminals; tree clearing; install two lifts, ski trails, beginner pod and connector, snowmaking lines and pond, summer activities, road, and ski bridge.”
A friend of mine from college was a lifty in Big Bear for a season and she told me that they’re seriously looking at an interconnect gondola between the two mountains, Lift 9 (Bear Mountain Express) is also badly in need of replacement thing was a CTEC prototype so this tracks IMO
Full interconnect with two new trail pods, each with their own lift, and then an expansion of the terrain dropping down to lifts 7/10 on the Summit side. Eventually 7/10 would be combined into a single 6 pack and that would all truly remake the Big Bear skiing experience.
12 was a short handle tow strictly to service the halfpipe back when Snow Summit had one. It was rarely used and was abandoned after Bear Mountain and Snow Summit merged as most terrain features were relocated to the former.
Also, agree with you on upgrading 9 to a high speed quad as it services most of the area’s beginner terrain, but I’d say 7 is fine as is. The lift only services two trails, so additional capacity might be unwise there. The long term plan is to run a single detachable from the base of 10 to the top of 7, so might as well leave both lifts as is until that happens rather than a short-lived upgrade.
Lift Blog 
I believe the ringer double was actually a very early detachable lift.
from skilifts.org:
“Although in 1952, Ringer was hurting for lift parts for a lift that he recently installed at Snow Summit in California, which made history as America’s first monocable detachable lift. The lift opened in January of 1953 and had a length of 5,000 feet with a vertical of 1,500 feet. For this lift, Ringer used the automatic couplings off old German cable-car sets Ringer made the necessary modifications to make this lift work. Each chair had a sheave with the clutch that was attached to the grip. The lift was operated by a person who pushed the chairs around the contour to the area where the riders would board the lift. Then the operator would push the chair further to a spot where the spring-loaded clutch would open the jaw and then close onto the moving haul rope. When the chair arrived at the top station, the clutch would disengage, allowing the grip to detach from the haul rope. Once the riders unloaded from the chair, a lift operator would then push the chair around the contour and send it back down. Unfortunately, the final story on this detachable lift wasn’t a happy one. Dick Kun, who is the president of Big Bear Resorts, which owns Snow Summit remembers “The design was unnecessarily advanced and complicated for the technology of the times. It was labor-and-parts intensive.” The first season the lift operated, a chair fell of the haul rope when its clutch failed to engage properly. The riders sustained injuries, but luckily didn’t die. But the fallowing summer, the chair derailed on the uphill side, knocking the sheave off the chair as it crashed into a tower dropping the chair and killing one passenger. The lift was never operated again after this incident.”
http://www.skilifts.org/old/chairlift_manufacturers_ringer.htm
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Anyone have pictures of the Ringer detachable?
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401abc6b6f7bb84b4e43efa133c8f5eb.jpg (236×335)
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These are the best I could find for the moment.
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Do they pronounce the ringer double a high speed double or a detachable double
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both a detachable double and a high speed double
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They Should Upgrade Chairlifts here
Chair 7 2CLD
Chair 9 4CLDThis lift is so slow
Chair 10 3CLD
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Looks like there is a new project involving two new lifts per the San Bernardino National Forest Projects Page. Not much info available yet just a short description.
“Big Bear Mountain Resort Master Development Plan Projects”
“Expand and connect Bear Mountain and Snow Summit SUP boundaries; grade trails and terminals; tree clearing; install two lifts, ski trails, beginner pod and connector, snowmaking lines and pond, summer activities, road, and ski bridge.”
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Wait a second, this sounds a lot like a proposal for an interconnect between Bear Mountain and Snow Summit.
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A friend of mine from college was a lifty in Big Bear for a season and she told me that they’re seriously looking at an interconnect gondola between the two mountains, Lift 9 (Bear Mountain Express) is also badly in need of replacement thing was a CTEC prototype so this tracks IMO
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Just a gondola? Where would it run? The connection of the SUPs sounds like a full terrain interconnect.
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the plans
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Full interconnect with two new trail pods, each with their own lift, and then an expansion of the terrain dropping down to lifts 7/10 on the Summit side. Eventually 7/10 would be combined into a single 6 pack and that would all truly remake the Big Bear skiing experience.
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Lift 9, and Lift 7 need to be upgraded. 9 should get a hsq, and 7 could get a fixed 3 or 4.
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Also, does anyone know anything about the old lift 12? I was looking at a map from the 90s and couldn’t find any info other than that.
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12 was a short handle tow strictly to service the halfpipe back when Snow Summit had one. It was rarely used and was abandoned after Bear Mountain and Snow Summit merged as most terrain features were relocated to the former.
Also, agree with you on upgrading 9 to a high speed quad as it services most of the area’s beginner terrain, but I’d say 7 is fine as is. The lift only services two trails, so additional capacity might be unwise there. The long term plan is to run a single detachable from the base of 10 to the top of 7, so might as well leave both lifts as is until that happens rather than a short-lived upgrade.
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