The single chair is an icon of classic skiing. Many of us have never ridden and will never ride a lift so lonely, unless you happen to visit very specific resorts. Sure, there are t-bars that are one person at a time, and there are rope tows that require a fair amount of space between skiers, but the single chairlift experience, floating alone on such a small platform, is unlike any other.
The most famous single chairlift is likely the Mad River Glen single chair. As one of just a handful of lifts, the single chair is the only way up to some of the ski area’s most intense run. Installed on December 11, 1948, the single chair is more or less the same as it was when it opened, though it saw a historic restoration when the Co-Op took ownership of the mountain.
While Mad River Glen’s single chair is arguably the most famous in the country, it doesn’t hold the title as the only single chair in the United States. To find the only other active single chair in this country, and to find the only area with a single chair that allows snowboarders, you’d have to head up to Alaska.
The Mt. Eyak Ski Area is managed by the Sheridan Alpine Association for benefit of both the City of Cordova and the public. Cordova can be accessed either by air, through Seattle or Anchorage, or by ferry, departing from Anchorage.
With a base elevation of 400 feet and a max elevation rising to 1200 feet, skiers and snowboarders can access an 800 foot vertical drop, serviced solely (plus a rope tow for the beginner slope) by a 1939 American Steel and Wire single chair lift. Mt. Eyak has a total 30 different trail options, seeing around 350 inches of snowfall every year.
Together, Mad River Glen at Mt. Eyak make up the entirety of the United States single chair ski resorts, and hopefully neither will be going anywhere anytime soon.