The chairlift that derailed at the Sugarloaf Mountain Resort last week is 35 years old and first in line for replacement, according to the resort. But it’s not the longest-running lift on the mountain, which has most of Maine’s oldest chairlifts, according to state licensing records.

Sugarloaf’s aging lift system has long been a sore point with loyal “Sugarloafers,” including some who say the recent accident should have been avoided. The derailment has even inspired a new Facebook page, aimed at Boyne Resorts, Sugarloaf’s operator: “Dear Boyne, please send new lifts. Love, Sugarloaf.”

“We’ve been saying for several years, it’s not a question of whether, it’s a question of when Spillway gives out,” said Daniel Kagan, a longtime Sugarloafer who set up the Facebook page.

Officials with Sugarloaf and Boyne, which took over the operation in 2007, said the age of a chairlift does not determine how safe or unsafe it is. The mountain’s lifts are carefully maintained and inspected, they said.

That is backed up by an independent expert, who said a chairlift that is properly maintained and tested can operate safely “darn near forever.”

At the same time, Sugarloaf’s operators have said the resort is overdue for a capital infusion. A Web page describing a 10-year improvement plan says “some lifts have begun to show their age.”

Now, after three years of heavy investment in snowmaking and other priorities, the new 10-year plans calls for Sugarloaf to replace and upgrade lifts, starting as soon as this year with Spillway East.

Five of Spillway East’s chairs fell on Dec. 28, and eight skiers were injured, when the cable came off one of the towers that supported it. A Sugarloaf employee tried to fix the misaligned cable just before the derailment.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation. Wind is believed to have been a factor. The age of the lift, although it has focused attention on Sugarloaf’s investments, has not been suggested as a factor.

Sugarloaf, in Carrabassett Valley, is one of Maine’s two largest ski resorts, along with Sunday River in Newry. Both ski areas were bought in 2007 by Boyne and CNL Lifestyle Properties. Florida-based CNL is the owner, and Michigan-based Boyne is the operator.

Spillway East is one of 13 chairlifts at Sugarloaf, and among five that are at least 30 years old, according to state records. Sugarloaf says the lift was installed in 1975, but state records say it was installed in 1980.

There are four other chairlifts 30 years or older at Maine’s other 11 ski areas, the records show.

Sugarloaf’s chairlift system is significantly older than the lifts at Sunday River. The average chairlift at Sugarloaf was installed in 1983, while the average chairlift at Sunday River was installed in 1991. That includes Sunday River’s newest lift, the Chondola, which Boyne installed in 2008.

The age of Sugarloaf’s lifts may not be an immediate safety issue, but it confirms the feeling among Sugarloafers that some new lifts are overdue, said Kagan, the Facebook page creator.

Two days after the accident, Kagan said, he and his son were riding up the mountain on a nearby T-bar — a lift that pulls skiers up the mountain while they stand on the snow.

“The rope attached to the cable snaps off,” Kagan said, stranding them partway up the slope with skiers coming up behind them. “This is not the sign of a healthy lift infrastructure.”

Kagan said he started the Facebook page not to place blame for the accident, but to send a message on behalf of Sugarloafers and their favorite mountain. He printed “send new lifts” bumper stickers, which he said are already showing up at the mountain.

“I thought, ‘I’m not the only Sugarloafer who feels this way. What can we do to help Sugarloaf get the message to the parent company that we need help?’” he said.

Kagan said Sugarloaf has been neglected by other owners, too, because it has a loyal following, drawn more by the mountain’s exceptional terrain than fancy facilities.

Sugarloafers have turned to the town of Carrabassett Valley to finance improvements, he said, such as a proposed new gondola that could carry skiers to the summit in enclosed cars.

Kagan cited another chairlift breakdown as an example of the need.

Two winters ago on Spillway West, a chair got stuck at the top of a tower while the cable slipped through its grip and kept going. It stayed on the tower until the next chair, carrying two skiers, caught up and pushed the stuck chair up the hill.

No one was injured, but the resort had to shut down the lift and evacuate skiers from their chairs using ropes and pulleys — the same way Spillway East was evacuated last week.

Mike Rowland, another longtime Sugarloafer, said his daughter was on the second chair. “For her, at the time, it was kind of scary. All of a sudden you have a chair you were going to bump into,” he said.

The breakdown on Spillway West was the only other evacuation of a lift at Sugarloaf in recent years, said Ethan Austin, Sugarloaf’s spokesman. The lift was fixed and reopened that day, he said.

Rowland said he is among the Sugarloafers who are glad that Boyne is promising to upgrade lifts over the next 10 years.

“I know that there’s been talk up there for a while that they need to do something,” he said. “The local folks up there have done a real good job with what they’ve got.”

A 35-year-old chairlift is old for the ski industry, but not necessarily unsafe, said Richard Penniman, a lift safety consultant from California.

The 64-year-old, one-person chairlift at Mad River Glen in Vermont, for example, is perfectly reliable and safe, he said, and has even become a tourist attraction in its own right.

“As long as you keep an eye on maintenance and metal fatigue … I don’t see any reason why these things can’t last darn near forever,” Penniman said.

There is no standard lifespan for chairlifts, he said. Resorts tend to replace them for reasons other than age, usually when they want to increase capacity in a section of a mountain.

Officials with Boyne and Sugarloaf say the age of a lift can be misleading because so many parts are replaced or repaired over the years.

“It’s sort of equivalent to a classic car where the body is from 1965 but the engine was replaced a couple of years ago,” said Austin, Sugarloaf’s spokesman.

Despite buying no new lifts, Boyne and CNL have been investing aggressively in the mountain, Austin said. They have spent $11 million in three years, much of it for an aggressive snowmaking expansion.

“The feeling in 2007, when Boyne took over, was that the immediate focus needed to be on snowmaking and improving the skiing products, and that would pave the way for these lift improvements,” Austin said.

Added terrain has helped increase the number of skier visits in the last two years, which is helping Sugarloaf make the case to Boyne and CNL for more investment in lifts, officials said.

“It’s dangerous for anyone to say ‘Old equals bad’” when it comes to lifts, said Stephen Kircher, president of Boyne Resort’s eastern operations. “The age is only on paper. It’s not actually what the equipment age is.”

Kircher said skiers who complain about the lifts may be confusing maintenance issues with wind holds, when a lift is temporarily shut down during high winds. The holds are not uncommon at Sugarloaf, where the peak elevation is 4,213 feet.

They also are ignoring all of the recent investments in snowmaking and other improvements, Kircher said.

The added snowmaking and an ongoing terrain expansion is enabling Boyne to make a case for a 10-year investment plan to CNL, which as owner controls the capital, he said. Boyne hopes to put $25 million into the mountain over 10 years.

CNL sees potential for added investments at Sugarloaf, including new lifts, and is evaluating the plans, said Stephen Rice, senior vice president and managing director of CNL Lifestyle Properties. But it has not committed to any time frame for lift replacements.

Rice said Spillway East was first in line for replacement even before the accident. But that has nothing to do with its age.

“An older lift can be perfectly safe. The real question is, does it carry enough people” or are there other reasons for an upgrade, he said. 

Staff Writer John Richardson can be contacted at 791-6324 or at:

jrichardson@pressherald.com