The wildly random connection between banana boats and every ski chairlift ever made

Jim Curran’s Banana-Inspired Chairlift Revolution at Sun Valley

In 1936, skiing had a big problem – getting up the hill was hard work. That’s when Jim Curran, a Union Pacific Railroad engineer from Omaha, had a wild idea.

Why not hang chairs from cables? The son of Irish immigrants got this notion from banana loading systems he’d built for ships.

To test it in flat Nebraska, Curran’s team strapped chairs to pickup trucks while engineers on roller skates played the part of skiers.

Soon after, Sun Valley Resort opened with the world’s first chairlifts on December 21, though guests had to wait six days for actual snow.

Today, you can visit Sun Valley to see how this banana-inspired invention changed winter sports forever.

Railroad Boss Builds a Winter Playground in Idaho

In 1936, Union Pacific Railroad boss Averell Harriman wanted more train riders during winter. He bought land near Ketchum, Idaho, and built Sun Valley Resort, America’s first destination ski resort.

Harriman needed a way to get skiers up the mountain without the tiring climb. Rope tows were too slow and uncomfortable.

Harriman told his engineers to find a better solution that would make Sun Valley stand out and bring in wealthy tourists from the East Coast.

From Irish Roots to Problem-Solving Know-How

Jim Curran grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Irish immigrants who came to America for better jobs.

Born in 1903, he skipped college but learned engineering through hands-on work. Curran started as an ironworker and read engineering books at night.

He passed the Nebraska state engineering test through self-study and got a job with Union Pacific Railroad. His practical background gave him a fresh view on problems.

When the Sun Valley challenge came up, Curran was ready to think differently.

Bananas Pointed the Way to Skiing Success

Curran had worked on making systems for loading banana bunches onto ships. The main challenge was moving fruit without bruising it.

His answer? Curran made a system of hooks that gently carried banana bunches from dock to ship. When asked to move skiers uphill, Curran thought about his banana hooks.

He drew a chair hanging from a cable that would scoop up skiers without stopping, just like his banana system.

Old Ideas Got Left Behind

Other Union Pacific engineers stuck with what they knew. Some wanted to use J-bar or T-bar systems already used in Europe.

Others liked cable cars like those in San Francisco.

These options had problems: J-bars and T-bars hurt on long rides, and cable cars needed big stations and only loaded at certain spots.

Curran’s chairlift idea won because it solved many problems at once: comfy for riders, moved without stopping, and cost less than cable cars.

Summer Tests Used Pickup Trucks and Roller Skates

Testing a ski lift in summer wasn’t easy. Curran built a test model at Union Pacific’s repair shop in Omaha.

With no mountains or snow in Nebraska, Curran got clever. He put a chair on the side of a pickup truck and drove around the rail yard.

Engineers wore roller skates to act like skis and tried jumping on and off the moving chair. These tests showed that 4 to 5 miles per hour worked best for safely loading and unloading people.

The Boss Took the First Test Ride

Harriman wanted to see the chairlift himself before spending millions on it.

He went to the Omaha test site in summer 1936, put on roller skates, and tried the pickup truck setup. After a shaky start, Harriman got used to it and smiled as he rolled along.

“This will work perfectly,” he told Curran after trying it.

His approval sped up the project, and work teams headed to Idaho right away to start building before winter came.

Fixing Problems No One Had Tackled Before

The team faced many new challenges. They needed chairs strong enough for people but light enough to move on cables.

Safety came first—what if someone fell? They added safety bars and made chair backs at certain angles to keep skiers secure.

The lift towers had to stand up to Idaho’s heavy snow and wind. The cable system needed just the right tension to keep chairs from swinging too much.

Curran and his team solved each problem, creating fixes that ski lifts still use today.

Racing the Clock as Winter Got Closer

Work crews pushed through fall 1936 to finish the lifts before opening day.

They built two chairlifts—one on Dollar Mountain for beginners and another on Proctor Mountain for better skiers. Workers hauled parts up steep land without roads.

They poured concrete bases for lift towers and hung miles of steel cable. The Dollar lift ran 2,360 feet and went up 634 feet.

The Proctor lift was longer at 3,540 feet with 1,150 feet of climb. Both finished just in time.

Mother Nature Almost Spoiled the Big Opening

Sun Valley Resort opened with much buzz on December 21, 1936.

Famous people and rich guests came by train from across America. But they faced a big problem—no snow. The brown, dusty slopes couldn’t be used.

Harriman told guests they could stay for free until snow came. The wait lasted six nerve-wracking days.

Finally, on December 27, five inches of snow fell, enough to open the slopes. Guests rushed to try the new chairlifts, which worked great despite the rushed setup.

Skiers Finally Got Lifted to Mountain Tops

The first day of chairlift use amazed everyone. Skiers lined up to try this odd new machine that would carry them uphill while sitting.

Many felt nervous at first but quickly learned how it worked. Lift workers helped people on and off the moving chairs.

Once on the lift, riders enjoyed a comfy 8-minute trip up the mountain with great views—much better than the tiring climb that skiing used to need.

The Proctor Mountain lift could carry 426 skiers every hour.

A Nebraska Engineer Changed Winter Sports Forever

Curran and Union Pacific’s chief bridge engineer Glen Trout patented the chairlift design in 1939.

Before chairlifts, skiers spent most of their day climbing up hills for just a few minutes of downhill fun.

Curran’s invention flipped this ratio, letting people make multiple downhill runs in a day. Ski resorts popped up across America and Europe using Curran’s design.

Today’s high-speed quads and gondolas all trace their ancestry back to the banana-inspired innovation from an Omaha railroad engineer.

Visiting Sun Valley, Idaho

You can explore the birthplace of the world’s first chairlift on the 4.2-mile Proctor Mountain Loop Trail, where you’ll find remnants of the original 1936 lift and a bronze plaque marking its concrete foundation.

The trail starts from Hemingway Memorial parking area on Trail Creek Road and passes the historic 1938 Ruud Mountain chairlift.

Downtown Ketchum’s museum offers free admission with interactive exhibits about Sun Valley’s ski history.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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