Back in the ’70s, most Canadians learned to ski at a humble community hill, with its collection of rope tows and T-bars. Fixed-grip double chairlifts that wouldn’t gnaw the palms of your gloves or the sides of your ski parka were a step up. As lineups grew longer and consumers got more frustrated, the lift industry responded with a truly revolutionary solution—a high-speed chairlift that used an innovative clamp appended to a cable running at up to three times the speed of its predecessor.
The humble surface lift still has its place, though, where even at Whistler Blackcomb two trusty T-bars that have been around since the 1970s still deliver skiers to mind-boggling bowls filled with untracked powder.
