Stevens Pass | Kehr's Chair [New 2023]
Kehr's Chair started as a Riblet center-pole double known as Big Chief, named after the mountain it partially ascends. It was installed in 1964, replacing a ropetow, and became the fourth chairlift at Stevens Pass. The lift remained largely unmodified throughout its lifespan, until summer of 2021. Towers 11-16 received custom lifting frames that summer, leading up to its replacement. In 2023, Kehr's Chair was removed, leaving Seventh Heaven as the last original lift installation, and the last lift without safety bars on the mountain.
Kehr's Chair is a Skytrac quad chair. The lift uses all standard Skytrac parts, except for the sheaves, which are standard Leitner-Poma sheaves. The lift is a bottom drive-tension, and top fixed return. The lift sits in a new alignment from its predecessor, with the bottom terminal sitting more north, and top terminal sitting more south. The old vault drive/loading platform builing still exists to this day, sitting to the south of the new lift's loading area.
Note: This lift was recorded by my mother, so shoutout to her. And apologies for the video being in vertical, did what I could with editing to make it more watchable.
Thumbnail image courtesy of Lift Blog
Recorded on March 12th, 2024
Iphone 14 Pro