The average detachable chairlift has 108 carriers while the average fixed grip lift has 103.  Most people would assume the longest lifts have the most carriers but that’s usually not the case.  One of the reasons is longer spacing on detachable chairlifts and gondolas.  Also many long fixed-grip lifts get designed with lower hourly capacities and bigger spacing to save money.  In fact, only one of the top ten lifts with the most chairs is also among the ten longest. Each of the lifts below has more than 200 chairs and, not surprisingly, all but two are fixed-grips.

1. Cyclone – Sunrise Park Resort, AZ – 352 Yan triple chairs
2. West Mountain – Sugarloaf, ME – 280 Borvig double chairs
3. edited to add later: Town – Park City, UT – 264 CTEC triple chairs
4. Alpine – Copper Mountain, CA – 218 Yan double chairs
5. Porcupine – Snowbasin, UT – 212 Stadeli triple chairs
6. Summit – Attitash, NH – 207 CTEC triple chairs
7. C-Chair – Breckenridge, CO – 206 Riblet triple chairs
8. A-Chair – Breckenridge, CO – 206 Riblet triple chairs
9. Snowflake – Breckenridge, CO – 205 Poma double chairs
10. Northwest Express – Mt. Bachelor, OR – 204 Doppelmayr quad chairs
11. American Flyer – Copper Mountain, CO – 203 Poma quad chairs

What about gondolas?  There are a bunch of them that stretch two-plus miles.  Even so, no gondolas come close to making this list.  The Sunshine Village Gondola has the most cabins in North America with approximately 175 CWA Omegas and the Whistler Village Gondola comes in at number two with 160 Sigma Diamond cabins.  The average North American gondola has just 74 cabins.

Now, who can guess which lift has the most towers?