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Chairlift Identification Help

Not Sure

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I was surprised it was all still there. When the development company auctioned everything off in 2005 they obviously didn't know what they had. I'm sure they could have sold off components of the lift to somebody.

Possibly insurance related issue. If the insurance co. wrote it off there could be some liability involved even though it would have been structurally sound. Can't imagine the chairs not going though ?
 

Rowsdower

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Possibly insurance related issue. If the insurance co. wrote it off there could be some liability involved even though it would have been structurally sound. Can't imagine the chairs not going though ?

As far as I can tell the lift was cleared to operate up until they closed in 2003, so should have been in good shape. The fire which damaged it wasn't until 2012.
 

Rowsdower

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This was an interesting one. Borvig and Hall double chairs seem to be ubiquitous at these lost areas, however here I found a vintage 1964 Larchmont J-bar, of which I don't think there are any more extant examples of, but I could be wrong on that one. If you guys know of any others let me know. There was also a Poma t-bar at this area, but that had been removed. Although I found the haul rope with the attached grips and the whole handle assembly in the woods.

xSjrES7.jpg
 

Rowsdower

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This was definitely 1964 per the same website: http://www.skilifts.org/old/install_na1964.htm

Didn't see any after this. There were a few others installed in Massachusetts and New York. Unfortunately they don't have specific mountains listed per company install before 1963.

edit: So I did some research. Larchmont made some early lifts in the early 1960s until about 1964. Besides this one, they did J-bars at Sweatt Hill and Blue Hills in MA. Sweatt Hill is now defunct, and may still have the j-bar standing in probably the same condition, but pictures from NELSAP come from 2000, so it might not still be there and I couldn't find newer info.

They also built a single chair (!) that was installed at Ascutney and had a really bizarre configuration and only appears to have operated for a season or two: https://www.newenglandskihistory.com/lifts/viewlift.php?id=102

So besides the possibly still standing j-bar in MA this may be the only remaining example of this company's ski lifts.
 
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Rowsdower

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I've uploaded the full video of Pocono Manor, where you will find this singular J-bar. Another example of a private lift serviced ski area in the Poconos, Pocono Manor operated a ski area for about 20 years starting in the mid 60s. Besides the J-bar there was a T-bar on an adjacent slope, pieces of which you can still find in the woods.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMv509-kw9Q
 

Rowsdower

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Found this 1960s Borvig in the woods:

eprIVbN.jpg


SVhPVQA.jpg


Top terminal drive Borvig? The bottom terminal was removed but it looks like the drive was at the top. Certainly not like the other Borvigs I've seen.

8Ss5XQy.jpg
 

Glenn

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Great pics in this thread. Amazing how quickly nature reclaims things.
 

Rowsdower

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Biggest lost ski area in PA? Kahkout Mountain was a private ski area near Bushkill Falls. It had about 450 feet of vertical drop on 5 trails of different difficulties, some rather steep. I posted pictures of the lift some time ago, which was a 2500 foot long Borvig double chair installed in 1972. I've posted the full walk around here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U0ZX6BWPss&t=445s
 

danimals

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I think biggest lost would be ski snowpeak. Nonetheless great video and the terrain looks pretty good too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

ne_skier

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Found this 1960s Borvig in the woods:

eprIVbN.jpg


SVhPVQA.jpg


Top terminal drive Borvig? The bottom terminal was removed but it looks like the drive was at the top. Certainly not like the other Borvigs I've seen.

8Ss5XQy.jpg

Borvig had a few terminals using concrete, some other examples being Snow Valley VT's double and the old Beginner Double at Hidden Valley NJ. HV's was a 60s model and Snow Valley was a '77, so maybe it was an option for the purchaser. Those are the only Borvigs I know of with that design, however Hall used concrete on some of their earlier drive designs.
http://www.chairlift.org/pics/sv/sv3.jpg
http://www.chairlift.org/pics/hidden valley/hid10.jpg
 
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