If you’ve ever spotted an interesting, tear drop or pentagon-shaped chairlift at a North American ski resort, you’re likely spotting the remnants of Yan lifts, a company who’s massive rise eventually led to an enormous fall. But how did the company get its start? More specifically, how did a Polish immigrant get his own ski lifts onto so many North American slopes?
Polish immigrant and former ski racer Janek Kunczynski first arrived in the United States while working for Poma, the French ski lift company. He helped to install lifts at Palisades Tahoe in California, back when it was called Squaw Valley, ending up marrying the resort founder’s daughter.
After a few years, however, Janek decided he could build his own ski lifts better, founding a company called Lift Engineering and Manufacturing Co in 1965. The lifts were marketed under the name Yan, following the English spelling on his first name.
His company grew fast, with lifts ending up on resorts across the country. Unfortunately his own eagerness sometimes undermined quality, with some of his innovations raising worries among state safety officials. Problems with the lifts soon arose. In 1985, a Yan lift at Colorado’s Keystone ski resort malfunctioned and threw 49 people to the ground, killing two. His lifts continued to have problems, and in 1995, Lift Engineering and Manufacturing Co. filed for bankruptcy.
