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Moonlight Basin, which Big Sky purchased in 2013, and the The Ramcharger 8 chairs feature
Spanish Peaks Ski Area, which is integrated into the Big Sky “Big Sky blue” bubbles, heated seats,
complex.) Notably, the Bozeman area, including Gallatin and an auto-unlocking safety bar. An
County, is the fastest-growing region in the country for the automated parking system will limit
second year in a row, according to the US Census Bureau, with nighttime exposure and prevent wear.
Big Sky and Montana State University as big draws for people
moving to the region.
Annie Pinkert, Big Sky’s vice president of business devel-
opment, says the new lift will give skiers and riders visiting
the area the freedom to achieve more vertical and experience
more acreage in one day than they could at any other resort. Courtesy of Doppelmayr
“The new Ramcharger 8 lift will help Big Sky Resort con-
tinue to deliver on its most consistent trait—a lift line-free
experience—even as the resort continues to grow visitation,”
Pinkert says. “Guests’ vacation time is highly valued, and no
one likes to spend that precious time waiting in long lines.”
When not in operation, the Ramcharger 8 chairs—each
weighing about 2,200 pounds—will be put in storage via an
automated parking system. The parking has several electric benefits of the D-Line in particular, and really talking about
conveyors that allow the chairs to be parked each evening, the fact that we’ve had all of these industry firsts since the
utilizing only one person. 1960s, we felt this was the time,” says Stephen Kircher,
Mike Lane, NSAA’s director of technical services, has president of Boyne Resorts.
seen first-hand how the process works in Europe and The Kircher family has a long history of going big when it
describes it as seamless. “Basically, they stop the lift, push comes to lifts, and Boyne has made being at the forefront of lift
a button to open the parking switch, and then start the lift technology a fundamental pillar of the company’s master plan.
and push the parking button. The chairs automatically leave “Driving industry firsts in lift technology is in our
the terminal and enter the parking building,” Lane says. company DNA, and we have a desire to be part of these
“The system is a great way to prevent damage and limit expo- transformational moves in the industry,” Kircher says.
sure and wear of certain components, including bushings, “Boyne Resorts has been the company to typically step up
caused by wind and inclement weather.” to lift technology over the decades, certainly the landmark
The new lift replaces a Ramcharger four-seater on Andesite moments of change. Triples, quads, and six-packs—those
Mountain, which is just east of Big Sky’s iconic Lone Peak that all started here in Michigan [with Boyne].”
towers over the Gallatin Valley. (The four-seater will replace The Kirchers established their first milestone in 1947
a double chair at Shedhorn.) The investment is just one step with what may very well be the world’s least expensive ski area
in the “Big Sky 2025” 10-year plan that the family-operated land acquisition when, for one dollar, Stephen’s father Everett
company initiated two years ago with the installation of the purchased the land that would become Boyne Mountain.
six-seat high-speed detachable Powder Seeker lift on Lone According to Julie Ard, senior vice president of corporate
Peak. At the time, the Powder Seeker also shared the distinc- communications for Boyne Resorts, the land was purchased
tion of being North America’s most technically advanced lift. from William Pearson, who had served as a Michigan state
Installed last year, it was at the front of the line then in terms senator. It was not suitable for farming, and when approached
of the options it provided—blue bubbles, heated seats, parking by Everett Kircher and his original partners, Pierson stated:
for the chairs, and footrests that when lowered include a device “Anybody damn fool enough to want to build a ski hill,
designed to prevent guests from falling from chairs. The lift well… I’ll give you the property.”
also has lifting tire banks to aid in maintenance and respacing The elder Kircher went on to set several other industry
should the chairs get out of the correct sequence. Yet it wasn’t firsts, including the world’s first triple chair installed in 1963
until this past January that the company settled on what would at Boyne Highlands Resort, and the world’s first four-person
be the sequel to the Powder Seeker. chair, installed a year later at Boyne Mountain (40 minutes
“We were thinking [the new lift] was going to be some- south of Boyne Highlands)—where you’ll also find the world’s
thing more conventional, but after being in Austria [where very first chairlift, which Boyne purchased from Sun Valley.
Doppelmayr’s world headquarters are based], discussing the (Sun Valley built the chair in 1936.)

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