Hall Ski-Lift Company was an American manufacturer that built and installed rope tows, t-bar and chair lifts for the ski and resort industry. It was established in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, NY in 1954 by Victor E. Hall. Over 800 ski lifts were installed throughout the world and many still operate. In 1982, Hall Ski Lift Company merged with

Von Roll Von Roll Holding AG is a Swiss industrial group that operates worldwide. It was founded in 1803. As one of Switzerland’s longest-established industrial companies, Von Roll focuses today on products and systems for electrical applications such ...

, giving up its name.

Victor E. Hall

Hall was born 22 September 1904 in West Colesville, New York. He was schooled in

Binghamton Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

public schools. He worked as a machinist, and in 1941 he opened his own radio service shop. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he supervised the design and installation of many conveyor systems for manufacturing in upstate New York. Hall was working as a project manager at a large industrial equipment company in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

in 1945 when a friend asked him to help construct and install a rope tow at a nearby ski resort. Using salvaged

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

parts, they constructed Hall's first tow-rope ski lift. This led to the establishment of a side business, ''Hall Engineering'', which constructed and installed rope tows across the northeastern United States.

Hall Ski-Lift Company Established

Hall recognized that the ski industry was entering a growth period. He also recognized that existing lift equipment, consisting of primarily rope tows was inadequate. He identified a good

T-bar A surface lift is a type of cable transport for snow sports in which skiers and snowboarders remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularity by higher-capacity and higher-co ...

design developed by the Swiss engineer Ernst ("Ernest") Constam, who by then had relocated to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Colorado. Constam had patented the design in 1947. After Constam's patent expired in 1954, Hall built his own T-bar lift system that incorporated elements of Constam's design. Hall installed his first T-bars at Highmount, and at Snow Ridge in

Turin, New York Turin is a town in Lewis County, New York, United States. The population was 761 at the 2010 census. Turin has a village, also named Turin. The town is south of Lowville, the county seat, and north of Rome. History The town was first se ...

. Hall Ski-Lifts were popular because of pricing and durability. Over 800 Hall Ski-Lifts sold between 1955 and 1982, ranging from T-Bars to fixed grip quad

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. They ...

s. Many of the Hall Ski-Lifts are still in operation. The last new Hall chairlifts were installed in 1982 at Ski Bittersweet and

Timber Ridge Timber Ridge is a mountain ridge of the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians straddling the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia. Timber Ridge extends from the forks of Sleepy Creek at Stotlers Crossroads in Morgan County, West Virginia, to Leh ...

Ski Area, both in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. In 1982 the Hall Ski-Lift Company was bought by

,Mary Adeline Hall obituary; Watertown Daily Times, Watertown, NY, 18 November 2010, p. A5. Retrieved 20 March 2012 which used some of the Hall designs and spare parts. Other Hall design elements have been used by

CTEC The Microsoft Certified Technical Education Centre (Microsoft CTEC) channel provides training for computer professions in the use of Microsoft products. The term Microsoft Certified Technical Education Centre was introduced by Microsoft Mi ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Hall - Chairlift.org Skilifts.org
An online community dedicated to documenting all types of Ski Lifts Aerial lift manufacturers Companies based in New York (state)