State’s oldest operating lift to be retired in April after party on Friday
The two-seat Segundo lift at Sunlight resort, dating back to 1954, will be replaced this summer.
admin
Sunlight Mountain Resort plans to give its historic Segundo lift a special retirement party on Friday to honor its five decades of service and iconic status in Colorado’s ski industry.
Segundo, the state’s oldest operating lift, began service on Aspen Mountain as Lift 3 in 1954. In 1969, it was replaced and sold to Sunlight, which had debuted as a ski area in 1966. It went into service there in 1973 as Sunlight’s second lift, hence the name Segundo. Resort officials have designated Friday as Segundo Day.
Segundo’s last day in service is likely to be April 6, when Sunlight closes for the season, but Segundo’s sendoff celebration will happen Friday with extended hours.
Those who want to pay their respects will be able to ride Segundo from Sunlight’s normal closing time of 4 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. Those who don’t already have Sunlight passes will be able ride Segundo starting at 4 p.m. for $20.
“We’re just hoping people come out and experience all eyes on the lift for two and a half hours, when the sun is getting low,” said Travis Baptiste, Sunlight’s director of business development. “We think it will be a really cool day.”
Segundo’s chairs seat two with a single hanger pole between the passengers. The lift was built by the Heron Engineering Company, founded by the legendary lift designer Robert Heron, which built 120 chairlifts across the country.
It will be replaced by what used to be Arapahoe Basin’s Lenawee, a three-passenger chair which was removed in the summer of 2022 and replaced by a high-speed, six-person chair. Installation of that lift at Sunlight was delayed for a year while the installer dealt with a construction backlog caused by COVID-19.
‘We’re really proud that we are repurposing the Lenawee Lift, because that is something that could have ended up in the scrap yard,” Baptiste said. “That lift has at least 25 years of service left on it.”
Sunlight is also replacing the Primo lift, a double that began operation in 1966. It will be replaced this summer by a four-person chair built by Poma in Grand Junction.
“It is coming off the assembly line as we speak,” Baptiste said.
This week, though, the focus will be on Segundo. Baptiste is hoping Front Range skiers and riders will consider coming over for some fun nostalgia.
“We really just wanted to designate a day with all eyes on Segundo,” Baptiste said. “We’re hoping people travel to come ride the lift and be on a piece of history – your last chance to ride the oldest in-service lift in Colorado. The biggest thing is for our local community. We have people living here who are on four or five generations of their family riding on this lift, so there is a serious emotional attachment. Some of those generations started off running the lift in Aspen.”
