– Chair #1 was a single from AS&W installed in 1949 (https://snow-valley.com/about-snow-valley/): https://snow-valley.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/img-1924.jpg and https://snow-valley.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/img-1937.jpg
– If it is correct that the first double was installed in 1960 and Hall (#2) was built in 1966, there are already two lifts missing in the list. But I would assume that the Hall was their second chair and #1 got replaced by Yan in 1973.
– SAM lists a Yan double in 1985 for chair #1 (http://www.skilifts.org/old/install_na1985.htm) and a 1985 map (#13 is listed a new so the year is correct: https://skimap.org/data/539/7/1210647980.jpg) also shows a double not a triple (so do the maps after that), but Yan’s installation records say Triple with 1800 cap. What’s correct?
– With regard to #2 and #6: Yan’s installation records show two new installations in 1983 for both #2 and #6. #2 did replace the Hall, but did #6 also replace the 1973 double or was it just integrated into the double-double? By the way, a 1980 map already shows the lifts as double-double: https://skimap.org/data/539/7/1209953410.jpg (#3 is not marked as a triple here, but #4 and #11 are > the year seems to be correct, but that might tell us that a double (#3) is missing in the list)
– Yan lists #2 both as new and modified in 1973. Any idea why?
– #4 received a Yan adjustable return terminal in 1982, #1 new line equipment in 1983 and #5 a new return tension terminal and AP? in 1988 with a reduction in length from 2880 to 2646.
Is 2 still there? The spreadsheet lists it as removed as of late January 2023. However, the pictures on its page show it getting hydraulic tensioning, and that can’t have been too long ago, so is it REALLY removed? I have not checked Snow Valley’s trail map.
I suspect the 1985 Yan listing may be erroneous or a lift that was never installed as trail maps don’t indicate a triple being installed that year or any future year aside from chair 13. It’s definitely not Chair 1, as that lift remained a double all the way until it was replaced by the six-pack.
So 1972-1986, Snow Valley put in 15 chairlifts in 15 years. I know lifts were a lot less expensive then, but still wow. Was there some sort of real business case to be made for this kind of massive sustained investment at the time? A school of thought in ski area design that many small lifts was the way of the future (I’m thinking, for example, of Telluride opening at the same time with 5 short lifts)? Or was it just a case of a deep-pocketed owner?
Snow Valley changed owners in the early 1970s, and the new owners decided to modernize and expand from a mountain with four chairs (all generally serving the same terrain area) to something capable of competing with the larger ski areas operating at Big Bear Lake a half hour away. Four of the five 1979 lifts (chairs 8, 9, 10, and 11) were part of a terrain expansion to a second peak, with chair 12 adding a designated beginner area separate from the main slope. The other lifts in that period were either capacity upgrades of older lifts or secondary lifts to better disperse people around what is a fairly linear ski area.
Lift Blog 
What ever happened to chair 7?
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It went kablooey
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I don’t know if it went kablooey but it was between chair 3 and 13.
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How did it get kablooey?
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I found chair 1 disassembled next to chair 3 and 13 on Google Maps.
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– Chair #1 was a single from AS&W installed in 1949 (https://snow-valley.com/about-snow-valley/): https://snow-valley.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/img-1924.jpg and https://snow-valley.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/img-1937.jpg
– If it is correct that the first double was installed in 1960 and Hall (#2) was built in 1966, there are already two lifts missing in the list. But I would assume that the Hall was their second chair and #1 got replaced by Yan in 1973.
– SAM lists a Yan double in 1985 for chair #1 (http://www.skilifts.org/old/install_na1985.htm) and a 1985 map (#13 is listed a new so the year is correct: https://skimap.org/data/539/7/1210647980.jpg) also shows a double not a triple (so do the maps after that), but Yan’s installation records say Triple with 1800 cap. What’s correct?
– With regard to #2 and #6: Yan’s installation records show two new installations in 1983 for both #2 and #6. #2 did replace the Hall, but did #6 also replace the 1973 double or was it just integrated into the double-double? By the way, a 1980 map already shows the lifts as double-double: https://skimap.org/data/539/7/1209953410.jpg (#3 is not marked as a triple here, but #4 and #11 are > the year seems to be correct, but that might tell us that a double (#3) is missing in the list)
– Yan lists #2 both as new and modified in 1973. Any idea why?
– #4 received a Yan adjustable return terminal in 1982, #1 new line equipment in 1983 and #5 a new return tension terminal and AP? in 1988 with a reduction in length from 2880 to 2646.
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Is 2 still there? The spreadsheet lists it as removed as of late January 2023. However, the pictures on its page show it getting hydraulic tensioning, and that can’t have been too long ago, so is it REALLY removed? I have not checked Snow Valley’s trail map.
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it is in fact still on their map and so is 8
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Chair 2 Is Still there and also chair 8 was operating 4 days ago it’s still operating it’s not removed.
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chair 8 was operating… actually?
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I suspect the 1985 Yan listing may be erroneous or a lift that was never installed as trail maps don’t indicate a triple being installed that year or any future year aside from chair 13. It’s definitely not Chair 1, as that lift remained a double all the way until it was replaced by the six-pack.
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This is like Loveland’s California cousin
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So 1972-1986, Snow Valley put in 15 chairlifts in 15 years. I know lifts were a lot less expensive then, but still wow. Was there some sort of real business case to be made for this kind of massive sustained investment at the time? A school of thought in ski area design that many small lifts was the way of the future (I’m thinking, for example, of Telluride opening at the same time with 5 short lifts)? Or was it just a case of a deep-pocketed owner?
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Snow Valley changed owners in the early 1970s, and the new owners decided to modernize and expand from a mountain with four chairs (all generally serving the same terrain area) to something capable of competing with the larger ski areas operating at Big Bear Lake a half hour away. Four of the five 1979 lifts (chairs 8, 9, 10, and 11) were part of a terrain expansion to a second peak, with chair 12 adding a designated beginner area separate from the main slope. The other lifts in that period were either capacity upgrades of older lifts or secondary lifts to better disperse people around what is a fairly linear ski area.
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