How a Banana Conveyor Gave Idaho the World's First Ski Chairlift

Why a railroad built a ski resort

In the 1930s, Union Pacific chairman W. Averell Harriman wanted a destination that would bring travelers onto the railroad. The company chose the Wood River Valley near Ketchum and began building Sun Valley in 1936. Sun Valley Lodge opened that December, establishing what the resort describes as North America’s first destination ski resort.

A resort needed more than rooms and scenery. Rope tows and other uphill systems existed, but the railroad wanted a way to carry guests up a mountain while they remained on their skis. Union Pacific assigned engineers to the problem, making an Idaho ski hill the proving ground for a new type of lift.

The banana-loading idea—and an Omaha test

Union Pacific engineer James “Jim” Curran had seen conveyor equipment that carried hanging bunches of bananas from docks toward ships. Instead of hooks for fruit, he proposed seats for people. A continuously moving cable could lift skiers without requiring them to hang onto a rope.

Curran and his colleagues tested the concept in Omaha, Nebraska, before installing it in Idaho. Union Pacific recounts a pickup-truck prototype, skis mounted on roller skates and tests of how a moving chair would meet a rider. The experiment was not simply a colorful anecdote: it addressed the practical problem of loading a passenger onto a chair that did not stop.

Two mountains received the first lifts in 1936

The original Sun Valley installations served Proctor Mountain and Dollar Mountain. They used single-person chairs attached to an overhead cable, with wooden support towers. Unlike a modern detachable chairlift, the early chairs kept moving at the cable’s speed as skiers boarded and got off.

The first two lifts made more downhill runs possible without requiring guests to climb back up after each descent. Bald Mountain, now the resort’s signature alpine-skiing mountain, did not open for skiing until December 1939. That distinction matters: the world-famous chairlift story started on Proctor and Dollar, not Baldy.

What is still there—and what the photograph actually shows

The original 1936 chairlifts are no longer operating. Sun Valley Resort says remnants of the first Proctor Mountain terminal can still be seen. The National Park Service lists the Proctor Mountain Ski Lift site in the National Register of Historic Places for its engineering and recreation significance.

An early chairlift on nearby Ruud Mountain has also been preserved. It came after the two 1936 installations; it is not the first Proctor or Dollar lift. The photograph accompanying this article, taken in 2019 in the Ruud–Proctor area, shows surviving historic equipment rather than a scene from opening day. Historic sites should be viewed from lawful, accessible routes; old lift structures are not operating rides.

Ninety years later: an anniversary, not the same season count

Sun Valley opened in December 1936, so December 2026 marks 90 years since the resort began. There is a small but important counting distinction: the resort identified 2025–26 as its 90th winter season and describes 2026–27 as its 91st. Calling the upcoming season the “90th” would confuse an anniversary with the number of ski seasons.

As of November 1, the resort lists November 26, 2026, as its planned opening celebration for the 2026–27 winter season. That is a scheduled date, not confirmation that lifts are operating or that snow conditions will permit every run to open. Check the resort’s current mountain report before making travel plans.

How to connect the history to a present-day Idaho visit

For local context before a trip, the IdahoLens Ketchum page provides a city-level view. To look at mountain-area cameras, use the resort webcams collection. Cameras show selected views, not a guarantee of open terrain or safe roads.

Winter driving is a separate decision from lift operations. Consult official road updates and the IdahoLens road-conditions guide before traveling. The legacy of the first chairlift is best appreciated with a clear distinction between preserved historic machinery, the resort’s present-day lifts and current operating conditions.

The larger lesson from Sun Valley

Idaho did not invent skiing, cable transport or mountain tourism. Its contribution was the first successful chairlift system designed to carry skiers uphill on suspended seats. A railroad’s search for passengers, a mechanical engineer’s experience with fruit handling and the terrain around Ketchum came together in 1936—and changed how ski resorts around the world would work.