Crystal’s Damaged High Campbell Chairlifts

Crystal Mountain, Wash.

Photo at right: Avalanche debris dwarfs the broken High Campbell chairlifts at Crystal Mountain Resort. Photo courtesy of Crystal Mountain

On March 10, the Crystal Mountain Ski Patrol intentionally triggered an avalanche on the mountain to mitigate potential risk of an avalanche being triggered by skiers. No one was injured, but in an unfortunate turn of events, the large mass of snow that resulted from the routine blast knocked the High Campbell chairlifts out of commission.

The chair will be replaced with a similar model this summer. In the meantime, Crystal Mountain Resort has 86 out-of-service chairlifts on its hands.

“Within hours of the avalanche taking place, people starting asking how they could get on a list to buy one of the High Campbell chairlifts, and when we’d begin selling them,” Crystal Mountain general manager John Kircher wrote in an open letter.

“We are still dealing with the aftermath of this loss, and are working on plans to rebuild. We have always sold chairs and other parts of lifts that have been decommissioned in the past, so the time will come. We are also going to donate a few to select charities for fund-raising efforts.”

If you’d like to learn more about plans for the decommissioned lifts, go to http://crystalmountainresort.com/News/1870/High-Campbell-Chair-Sale-38-Benefit