11 replies to this topic

[ne_skier]

I've known about this company for a while but I've always had many questions. Where did they come from? I assume they have some connection to Blue Mountain, ON, did they make their own lifts for a time? Where else did they install lifts? I'm pretty sure they got eaten by Leitner so they could get a footing in the American market in the mid 90s but I'm not sure

[ski_acres]

Yes, Blue Mountain did make their own lifts. I'm not sure when they made it. Here is a list of ski lift manufacturers http://www.skilifts....rs&fromsearch=1

[Lift Dinosaur]

Blue Mountain Lifts, or BM Lifts, was a small Canadian company operating out of Barrie, Ontario. They built 46 fixed grip lifts from 1980-1996, mainly in Ontario but entirely in Canada. They were bought by Leitner in 1997 for their manufacturing facility in Barrie as Leitner planned to join the North American market in 1998.

Dino

[iceberg210]

I seem to recall they were related to Skyway, is that correct or? I recall seeing it somewhere but I know you're the expert on Leitner history.
thanks!

[Lift Dinosaur]

I saw somewhere that Skyway was related to Timberland-Ellicot. Not sure if there was a further link to Blue Mountain.
Dino

[ne_skier]

Very interesting. I think this is the only case of a resort manufacturing their own lifts and selling them to other resorts.

[Lift Dinosaur]

The Lift Company wasn’t owned by the Resort. It was named after the Blue Mountains, an escarpment west of Barrie that has 3 or 4 ski areas on it.

[iceberg210]

Lift Dinosaur, on 07 October 2021 - 12:31 PM, said:

I saw somewhere that Skyway was related to Timberland-Ellicot. Not sure if there was a further link to Blue Mountain.
Dino

I know Skyway was the tradename Timberland Ellicot used for the skilifts, and eventually they just dropped the TE name and went with skyway. Somewhere I heard that skyway turned into BM Lifts, although I haven't heard more about that since.

[Conrad]

ne_skier, on 07 October 2021 - 01:27 PM, said:

Very interesting. I think this is the only case of a resort manufacturing their own lifts and selling them to other resorts.

There actually is an example of this happening in France. Montaval was created by the French ski area Val-d'Isère to build lifts at that ski area more economically. Though it should be noted that many of its lifts were simply contracted from other manufacturers (Yan, etc.)
Remontees-Mecaniques page: https://www.remontee...4-montaval.html

[Lift Dinosaur]

Conrad, on 14 October 2021 - 07:25 AM, said:

ne_skier, on 07 October 2021 - 01:27 PM, said:

Very interesting. I think this is the only case of a resort manufacturing their own lifts and selling them to other resorts.

There actually is an example of this happening in France. Montaval was created by the French ski area Val-d'Isère to build lifts at that ski area more economically. Though it should be noted that many of its lifts were simply contracted from other manufacturers (Yan, etc.)
Remontees-Mecaniques page: https://www.remontee...4-montaval.html

So did they actually manufacture components or did they just have an in-house installation team?

[sheave]

Lift Dinosaur, on 18 October 2021 - 01:08 PM, said:

So did they actually manufacture components or did they just have an in-house installation team?

Good question. I'm trying to answer this one for a very long time now.

[Allan]

BM lifts designed and made the restrainer bars for our Thiokol.