T-Bar – Cottonwood Butte, ID

This Buhler T-Bar was moved to Cottonwood Butte from another ski area to replace a wooden one.
Top tension-return station.
Return bullwheel.
Top station above the unload.
Unload area and operator house.
Line gear.
View down the lift line.
Middle section of the line.
Old wooden tower still standing for lighting purposes.
Tower steel might be of Doppelmayr origin.
Another old wooden tower.
Lower part of the lift line.
Doppelmayr spring box T.
Looking up the lift line.
Tower 1.
Lower drive station overview.

10 thoughts on “T-Bar – Cottonwood Butte, ID

  1. skier72 November 18, 2019 / 12:42 pm

    Is this the only Buhler lift operating in North America?

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  2. pnwrider April 11, 2021 / 7:20 pm

    I’ve never heard of Buhler before! Does anyone have any information about that manufacturer?

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    • BB17 April 11, 2021 / 8:02 pm

      There’s some information about them here: https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/liste-6-34-buhler.html#page-1

      Buhler was a Swiss manufacturer so it’s possible that this T-Bar originally came from a European ski area. Their earlier lifts also used designs licensed from Doppelmayr so the towers and T’s may indeed be of Doppelmayr origin as Peter pointed out.

      Also, the caption on the second photo says that the top terminal has the tensioning, but judging by the first photo I think it’s actually at the bottom.

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      • BB17 April 11, 2021 / 8:08 pm

        Sorry, I take that back: This lift was not relocated from a ski area in Europe, but from another area in Idaho, according to the Cottonwood Butte spreadsheet page.

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        • iceberg210 September 3, 2023 / 7:56 pm

          It was from Hitt Mountain outside Cambridge ID.

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        • Bill Hon September 4, 2023 / 7:17 am

          The old wooden towers resemble Bogus Basin’s old T-bar. It was removed a year after the Deer Point chair was installed, about 1959ish.

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        • iceberg210 September 4, 2023 / 9:14 am

          Sorry I should have been more specific, the Buhler came from Hitt Mountain, I don’t know where the original wooden towered one came from it’s possible it came from Bogus.

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  3. Bill Hon March 13, 2023 / 2:17 pm

    Wasn’t the original wooden T-Bar from Bogus Basin? I think it was homemade?

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