Sun Valley, Idaho, installed the first chairlift for a major ski resort in 1936.
The Union Pacific Railroad developed Sun Valley as a destination resort during the Great Depression. Engineer James Curran adapted a loading system used for banana transport in Central America, creating a lift that carried skiers uphill on chairs instead of requiring them to climb or use a rope tow.
The first chairlift opened on Dollar Mountain on 21 March 1936. Its success helped make lift-served skiing practical for large numbers of visitors and became a model for the rapid expansion of ski resorts after World War II.
The claim is sometimes simplified as “the first chairlift ever,” but earlier experimental and small-scale aerial lifts existed. Sun Valley’s importance is that it introduced a commercially successful chairlift system to a major destination resort.