8 replies to this topic

[Kelly]

Ski Lifts International (also known as SLI) was an Austrian chairlift manufacturer that was imported into the United States between 1965 and 1972.
Key Players
Sam Bonasso was a minor partner, but perhaps the term “North American sales engineer” is a better term.
Joe Sugarman was also a minor partner, but perhaps the term “marketing director” is a better term.
Some parts were made in Austria, some were outsourced from American manufacturers.
The Austrian firm entered the North American market in the mid 1960s at the height of ski lift building and ski area rebuilding.
Due to large sales in the Lake Tahoe area – Homewood, Incline Village, Heavenly Valley, Squaw Valley…and Heavenly Valley’s Maintenance Supervisor/Chairlift builder who happened to live in Incline Village NV (and who spoke the language) … a small space dedicated to parts/shipping/storage/sales was then established in Incline Village*.
The company has been mistakenly identified as originating in Incline Village NV.
Sugarman was asked to leave the company and Bonasso soon followed…with 20 other manufacturers there was some pretty fierce competition in this time period…survival of the fittest they say.
The ownership of the small amount of parts left in Incline Village and various ski area parking lots and bone-yards became an issue when the Austrian company’s “North American division” finally went bankrupt due to the aforementioned sales climate.
A “bankruptcy auction” was held with what was thought to be single bidder – that being being Heavenly Valley’s (trying to snag low cost replacement parts for his then new chairlifts) owner Hugh Killebrew…however Tony Sowder, Riblet Tramway’s owner won with the higher bid… much to Killebrew’s surprise.
Riblet Tramway made many aftermarket improvements to the SLI product, this association along with the bankruptcy “sale” is often attributed in history as Riblet buying SLI.
SLI still existed in Europe and sold parts to North American owners for a number of years until they went bankrupt.
Some SLI Peculiarities
In SLI’s final years in North America it was found that the profit margin was going to be quite slim or nonexistent – most chairlifts built that year were minus a tower – the “extra span” was spread among the remaining towers…you can still see the long spans in the original lifts still standing.
The bullwheel gage was narrower than the line gage…shipping issues I guess.
The sheave assemblies where quite large and did not flex – good for alignments but very difficult to rebuild or change because of the weight.
The carriers were touted a being maintenance free…they had galvanized stems and bails with fiberglass seat slats – no paint or stain needed.
The fiberglass slats were never strong enough, they needed constant changing or replacement with wood slats, so not really maintenance free after all.
The carriers were extremely light and very top heavy due to the light seat design, because of this they swing very easy in light winds. If you have ever ridden in a fixed quad chair (very bottom heavy) in the wind you can see the benefits of the design change.
Other stuff
Bonasso was long associated with the B-77 ropeway standards committee.
Bonasso Links: http://www.mechanicalconcrete.com/
http://en.wikipedia....muel_G._Bonasso
http://www.thinkalph...t.php?page_id=9
Sugarman in his younger years was a spy for the CIA (hence the European connection) and the marketing genius behind “blueblocker” sunglasses and was the original (before Bonasso) salesperson for SLI.
SLI sales brochure: http://www.chairlift.org/sli.html

*Also in Sparks NV - This is a partial history - If you have any more information feel free to post.

[iceberg210]

Great information Kelly, really appreciate the research and information done on this one.

[SkiBachelor]

If I remember correctly, it was mentioned in SAM that Riblet did acquire SLI or it's American counterpart.

In addition, Sugar Bowl also had an SLI, the former Lincoln double.

[Kelly]

Recently I spoke with another past Riblet employee who reconfirms the information given in the original post.
Most of the remaining SLI components that were awarded in the winning bid were installed as a single lift at 49 North ski area in 1980 (I believe this is Payday). This install is mentioned in 49 North’s history page. He also confirmed Riblet was never a sales agent for SLI but did modify existing SLI’s and sold old SLI line machinery (this was my experience also).
49 North resort location is about 49 miles north of Spokane Washington – Riblet was based out of Spokane.
Payday - SLI- carrier with an external grip.
 Payday grip.jpg (271.66K)
Number of downloads: 73

49 North history page on web: http://www.ski49n.com/content.php
49 North picture set topic: http://www.skilifts....?showtopic=6983

[Emax]

How did Helmet Raeberger fit into all of this?

[sheave]

Emax, on 17 May 2012 - 05:58 AM, said:

How did Helmet Raeberger fit into all of this?

Helmut Rehberger was president of SLI.

[sheave]

I spoke with Sam Bonasso and others about SLI, here is what I can add:

Joe and Sam knew each other from College. When Joe returned from Europe in 1964, he told Sam about the European ski lifts and they decided to start a business. Sam went to Austria on Jan 20 1965 to visit Toni Wiedermann, an engineer with Wito (Wito is short for WIedermann TOni). The contact was established through Hilbert Trading of Basel, Switzerland that both Joe and Wito had made business with. Sam and Toni were quickly able to agree on a collaboration. Since Wito wanted to focus on surface lifts and Sam's focus were chairlifts, they decided to create an own brand for the US, SLI. Sam became the owner of SLI, Wito was supplying the lift design and some parts.

The first SLI lift was installed at Bryce Mountain, VA (Chair #1). Chairs, towers and sheaves were made in the US. Other parts like bullwheels and brakes came from Europe (Austria and Germany). Not all chairs were of Wito's design, some came from a supplier in New Jersey (centerpole chairs at Bryce and bail chairs at Sapphire Valley). Grips were Schneider and later Girak.

In 1968, Sam sold the company to Helmut Rehberger, a relative of Toni. Helmut wanted to expand the business quickly. Later that year, he submitted a proposal to erect and operate a gondola or tramway to Mt. Wilson near Pasadena, CA. The project was never realized. He also built a gondola cabin prototype. It is not clear with what knowledge he could have built that lift.
Despite selling lifts and installing their first and only Quad at Homewood in 1972, the company was losing money. At the end of 1972, SLI had accumulated a loss of $243,617. Heavenly was interested in buying the remaining parts at the auction in 1973, but they were advised not to do it for liability reasons. Helmut started working for Lift Engineering before he died in 1975.

[ne_skier]

Looks like SLI lifts are on their way out pretty fast. Based on what I've heard, the biggest reasons are just age and a lack of spare parts. Only 20 or so still standing in North America. The Eastern US is down to just one SLI lift, #2 at Bryce, VA after Catamount razed it's two SLIs in 2020 and 2021 in favor of quads. I believe it is likely to be removed, after property owners voted overwhelmingly to replace the lift with a quad.

[sheave]

I have received a set of original documents from SLI. They list their installations (not all) between 1966 and 1972 (data is not edited):

'
Year     State   Area		           Name                  Model    Capacity  Length   Vertical   Speed   Notes
1966/7   VA      Bryce`s Mountain Resort   -                     Double   900       2425     425        -       -
1966/7   NY      Catamount, Inc.           -                     Double   1000      1780     382        -       -
1966/7   PA      Plateau Du Mont           -                     Double   800       1150     279        -       -
1966/7   NY      Sapphire Valley           -                     Double   800       965      139        -       -
1966/7   NV      Ski Incline               -                     T-Bar    900       1010     150        -       -
1966/7   VA      The Homestead             -                     T-Bar    800       743      123        -       Likely a 4-person jigback T-Bar
1968     CA      Holiday Hill Ski Lift     -                     Double   812       6000     1600       500     -
1968     CA      China Peak Ski Area       -                     T-Bar    900       1400     250        565     -
1968     VA      Bryce`s Mountain Resort   -                     Double   900       2350     400        450     -
1968     TN      Renegade Resort           -                     Double   1200      2450     330        450     -
1968     TN      Renegade Resort           -                     T-Bar    1000      740      95         480     -
1969     UT      Sundance Ski Area         -                     Double   1140      4300     920        500     -
1969     CA      Heavenly Valley           -                     Double   900       1170     323        400     -
1969     UT      Park City West            -                     Double   800       1470     330        400     -
1969     VA      Holiday Inn Waynesboro    -                     Double   800       1025     177        400     -
1969     NV      Ski Incline               -                     Double   800       1930     375        380     -
1969     NV      Ski Incline               -                     Double   1065      1550     286        475     -
1969     CA      Sugar Bowl                -                     Double   1200      2620     287        475     -
1969     CA      Sugar Bowl                -                     Double   1050      3500     1129       500     -
1969     CA      Sugar Bowl                -                     T-Bar    700       850      184        450     -
1969     CA      Homewood Resort           -                     T-Bar    860       1670     428        520     -
1969     CA      Snow Summit               -                     Double   960       5450     1165       500     -
1970     UT      Park City Resort Center   Three Kings Lift      -        1000      2620     465        450     -
1970     CA      Silver Basin              Lift # 1              -        1200      1962     388        500     -
1970     CA      Silver Basin              Lift # 2              -        1000      1245     135        450     -
1970     CA      June Mountain             Lift # 3              -        1200      5471     878        500     -
1970     CA      June Mountain             Lift # 4              -        1200      3924     567        500     -
1970     WA      Crystal Mountain          Lift # 5              -        1200      7545     1777       500     300 HP Silicon rectifier variable speed drive, 304 chairs, 37 towers
1970     CO      Aspen Skiing Corp.        Buttermilk Lift # 5   -        1200      1280     275        500     -
1971     NC      Wolf Laurel Mountain      Lift #1               -        1000      2660     482        450     -     
1971     CA      Tahoe-Donner              Lift #1               -        1100      3152     536        450     -     
1971     CA      Tahoe-Donner              Lift #2               -        900       1650     227        400     -     
1971     UT      Park City Resort          Lost Prospector       -        1200      5797     1338       500     -     
1971     UT      Park City Resort          Crescent              -        1200      2452     864        500     -     
1971     UT      Park City Resort          Payday                -        1200      6050     1286       500     -     
1971     VA      Mountain Run              Beginners Lift # 1    -        1010      902      197        350     -     
1971     WI      Mackinac Island           Lift #1               -        800       838      128        400     -     
1971     PA      The Hideout               Lift #1               -        900       831      131        350     -     
1971     CA      Heavenly Valley           East Peak             -        1200      2905     863        500     -     
1971     NY      Catamount                 Lift #2               -        1000      3151     920        450     -     
1971     CO      Aspen Skiing Corp.        Ajax 1A               -        1071      3625     1393       500     -     
1972     CO      Telluride Ski Area        Lift #2               -        1200      2921     384        450     -     
1972     CO      Telluride Ski Area        Lift #3               -        1200      3586     610        450     -     
1972     CO      Telluride Ski Area        Lift #4               -        1200      3741     769        500     -     
1972     CO      Telluride Ski Area        Lift #5               -        1200      5088     938        500     -     
1972     CO      Telluride Ski Area        Lift #6               -        1200      2709     1024       500     -     
1972     UT      Park City Resort          Lift C-7              -        1000      1423     220        400     -     
1972     CA      Homewood Ski Resort       Quad Chair Lift #3    -        2400      4170     962        403     -     
1972     AR      Dogpatch U.S.A.           Lift #1               -        1200      970      210        450     -     
1972     WA      Chewelah Basin            Lift #1               -        1050      6640     1842       515     -     
1972     WA      Chewelah Basin            Lift #2               -        1200      3444     792        500     -     
1972     WA      Chewelah Basin            Lift #3               -        1000      1902     348        400     -     

This post has been edited by sheave: 20 September 2021 - 10:10 AM