Helicopter Hauls Concrete For New Chairlift At Popular Washington Ski Resort

Matt Lorelli
·2 min read

Crews have been working this summer to replace a vintage chairlift at Steven's Pass, Washington, a popular ski resort located near Seattle.

The new lift is part of Vail Resort's 'Epic Lift Upgrade' plan that is investing millions of dollars on new lifts across their properties. The old Kehr's Chair was a vintage 1964 Riblet complete with a center pole and a ridiculously slow ride time. The new lift will be a fixed-grip quad from SkyTrac.

The resort shared the update below, including an awesome video of a helicopter flying in concrete to a new lift tower. Check it out:

Stevens Pass: "Quick Kehr’s Chair construction update! A helicopter flew concrete to lift tower foundations yesterday morning and we’re halfway done with this part of the project.

Concrete is loaded into specially designed buckets from the parking lot. The bucket is then attached to the helicopter using a cargo sling and the bucket is flown to its location, where a team of people pour the concrete into the footings.

The foundations for each of the tower locations were filled yesterday along with the column at the top terminal. Today we will finish filling the columns at each of the towers. As you can see, there’s a lot of work to do that requires air support! Stay tuned for another update from Vince soon. 🎥 by @bossconian"

Upgrading Kehr's from a double to a quad should help alleviate some of the crunch of skiers at Stevens Pass' base area. Moving more people up the mountain is exactly what Stevens/Vail Resorts is going for with this upgrade.

Stevens Pass has been in hot water in recent years. A petition two seasons ago garnered over 46,000 signatures to "Hold Vail Resorts Accountable". 

It was started by a group of disgruntled season/Epic pass holders that were frustrated by how the resort was being run.

Since, Vail Resorts and Stevens Pass have both made a very deliberate effort to increase transparency and communication with the mountain's diehard customers.

It seems to be paying off, so far.

Check out the video below of Kehr's last ride at the end of last season:

Stevens Pass Winter Stats/Info:

Vertical: 1,800 ft.

Skiable Terrain: 1,125 ac.

Average Snowfall: 460 inches

Lifts: 11

Trails: 57 named runs

Snowmaking: YES

Night Skiing: YES

Mega-Pass: Epic Pass

Stevens Pass Winter Trail Map. Kehr's Chair can be see on the looker's left leaving the base area.
Stevens Pass Winter Trail Map. Kehr's Chair can be see on the looker's left leaving the base area.

Don't miss another headline from POWDER! Subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of skiing.

We're always on the lookout for amusing, interesting and engaging ski-related videos to feature on our channels. Whether you're a professional or just an amateur, we want to see your best footage and help you share it with the world. Submit your video for a chance to be featured on POWDER and our social channels. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch high-quality ski videos.