I couldn't let the recent Whitetail Chairlift Auction go by without putting in a bid.  (The auction raised nearly $16,000 for the EpicPromise Employee Foundation.)  And I had a winning bid!  So I'm now the proud owner of Chair #2 from the decommissioned Jib Junction Double lift.

Alas, I don't have any ski lift towers and a mile of steel cable on my property, so it's unlikely I'll be able to install my own fully-functioning chairlift.  (Darn.)  But I would like to turn the chair into a nice piece of outdoor furniture, creating a freestanding swinging seat out of it.  Has anyone here ever done something like that?  I've searched the web and found a few ideas for how to do it, but curious to get thoughts and suggestions from DCSki readers too.

That chair is super cool but that rotated image was driving me nuts. 

 

HokieDave wrote:

I bought a double chair from Big Boulder Resort in PA when they held a similar auction in 2022. I paid a local welder that I found on Thumbtack to fabricate and weld a base onto the chair. It turned out great and I use it fairly regularly. 

I’ve seen chairs mounted as swings too which you mention and might be more suitable if you want it out on the lawn. Mine is sitting on our screened in porch. 

Scott wrote:

That came out really well, HokieDave.  It looks like you added the wood slabs as well?  (I'm assuming that wasn't part of the original chair design, although I've seen older ones with wood seats.)

Thanks. My chair came with wooden slats. Some were rotted and needed to be replaced. I replaced all of the slats and hardware. I also sanded off loose paint and repainted it, but I didn’t sand it smooth.  I wanted the authentic look. It had multiple layers of paint. I remember a green layer and the last layer was black, but there were one or two other colors under there too that it had been painted at one point in time. 

HokieDave wrote:

Thanks. My chair came with wooden slats. Some were rotted and needed to be replaced. I replaced all of the slats and hardware. I also sanded off loose paint and repainted it, but I didn’t sand it smooth.  I wanted the authentic look. It had multiple layers of paint. I remember a green layer and the last layer was black, but there were one or two other colors under there too that it had been painted at one point in time. 

Wow, a lot of history in those layers of paint.  Your refinishing looks beautiful.  The Jib Junction chairs just have plastic seats, but I was able to get one where the plastic seat is in good condition.  (My first choice was going to be Chair #7, but it had a cracked seat, so I went with #2.)  It's tempting to upgrade to wood slats but I think I'll keep it authentic in its current form as long as the plastic seat remains in good shape.  The green paint is still in very good condition (it's "Whitetail green") so I don't think I'll need to do any sanding or repainting.  There are one or two slightly rusted bolts I might swap out.  I love the history captured in these chairs; I know Jib Junction was a decommissioned lift bought/procured by Whitetail from another resort, although I haven't found a definitive answer on where it came from.  One commenter on LiftBlog thinks it may have originally been the Challenge Double lift at Blue Mountain, while another wonders if it didn't come from Liberty.  The bottom of the plastic seats have the original seat manufacturer and year imprinted in them; I think the year appeared to be sometime in the 1970s, if I recall correctly.  I'm amazed if that's the original plastic seat and it lasted that many years.

Always wanted to do a porch chairlift swing... Trouble is, the deck at my mountain place is exposed (no roof above the porch).  The only way I could do a chair and have it swing would be to have a base and arm connected to the top of the chair.  Haven't seen too many of those, other than ones you can buy "off the shelf."  

Scott wrote:

HokieDave wrote:

Thanks. My chair came with wooden slats. Some were rotted and needed to be replaced. I replaced all of the slats and hardware. I also sanded off loose paint and repainted it, but I didn’t sand it smooth.  I wanted the authentic look. It had multiple layers of paint. I remember a green layer and the last layer was black, but there were one or two other colors under there too that it had been painted at one point in time. 

Wow, a lot of history in those layers of paint.  Your refinishing looks beautiful.  The Jib Junction chairs just have plastic seats, but I was able to get one where the plastic seat is in good condition.  (My first choice was going to be Chair #7, but it had a cracked seat, so I went with #2.)  It's tempting to upgrade to wood slats but I think I'll keep it authentic in its current form as long as the plastic seat remains in good shape.  The green paint is still in very good condition (it's "Whitetail green") so I don't think I'll need to do any sanding or repainting.  There are one or two slightly rusted bolts I might swap out.  I love the history captured in these chairs; I know Jib Junction was a decommissioned lift bought/procured by Whitetail from another resort, although I haven't found a definitive answer on where it came from.  One commenter on LiftBlog thinks it may have originally been the Challenge Double lift at Blue Mountain, while another wonders if it didn't come from Liberty.  The bottom of the plastic seats have the original seat manufacturer and year imprinted in them; I think the year appeared to be sometime in the 1970s, if I recall correctly.  I'm amazed if that's the original plastic seat and it lasted that many years.

Your chair looks to be in great condition. I’d keep the seat as is if it were mine. Hope you enjoy it. 

I purchased a chair from Ski Liberty. I used  tall 6x6” pressure treated posts, sunk about 5’ into the ground. A 1.5” galvanized pipe went through the top.  You will need an extra set of hands to mount it in place. It has held up well over the years.

BlizzardBoy's chair right side up :-)  I used to have a dog like that one when I was a kid.  We got him at Christmas time around 1970 and named him Jingles.  Liberty was named Charnita Ski Area at the time. Hmmm, maybe I rode that chair when it was still operating???  Cool that you have vines growing on the wooden posts now.

I live in the Laurel mountains and any digging requires a pickaxe and a tiny camp shovel.  There's no such thing as using a standard shovel to dig.I also have a large pry bar.  I can dig a hole quicker this way in the highlands than I can in soil without rocks.  So that's something to consider.

Another option would be to weld legs to the bottom as picture by someone else.

Third option is to create a swing tripod on two sides that would be free standing. Mount the chair lift as the swing.  

Scott wrote:

BlizzardBoy, thanks for posting that (and thanks Jim for rotating the image :).  I was thinking something along those lines.  The tricky thing for me is my ground is basically solid rocks and boulders (I live up on a rocky mountain) so sinking posts 5 feet into the ground would be tricky.  I've wondered about making some kind of platform that wouldn't need to be sunk into the ground as much but would be stable enough.  For now, it's sitting in my garage, and I think briefly about possibilities each time I pass by it.  :)