Great Barrington, MA – Ski Butternut, a resort in western Massachusetts, is selling off 85 chairlift seats dating back roughly 50 years.nThe chairs — two manufactured by Mueller, 23 by Borvig and 60 by Carlavaro — vary in design and construction. Some used wooden slats for seats and
backs, while others used metal or a more durable composite.

These old double
chairlift chairs are all truly remarkable pieces of skiing history that can provide seating in a garden, on a front porch or in a ski house. Each lift chair is being sold as is for $200. Chairs must be
picked up at Ski Butternut. At approximately 42 inches wide by 98 inches tall by 28 inches deep
and weighing 35 to 45 pounds, all lift chairs can fit in a standard pickup truck bed. Customers have also strapped
chairs down onto the top of their vehicles for transport.

To secure a chair one must first call the Ski Butternut
main office at (413) 528-2000 x111 with credit card in hand. Full
payment will reserve a chair for pickup. Pickup can be accommodated from 10
a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, or at the same times over the weekend
of August 1st and 2nd.

There are only two Mueller center pole-style chairlift double chairs remaining. This
lift was manufactured in 1961 by Mueller, a Swiss company that still
manufactures chairlifts today. The lift was powered by a 65 HP motor and was
originally installed at Mount Cathalia in Ellenville, N.Y., before being purchased
and relocated to Ski Butternut, known then as Butternut Basin. Butternut owner Channing
Murdock and the Butternut Basin Lift Maintenance crew sweated through all
aspects of the installation of the foreign made lift components to get it ready for
the coming winter’s guests. This Mueller lift carried many an aspiring novice to
the top of the Cruiser ski slope at Ski Butternut until it was decommissioned in
2004. Ski Butternut replaced this aging lift with a quad chairlift prior to the winter
of 2005.

There are 60 Carlavaro chairlift chairs available, which were originally installed on
the ski slopes at the Dartmouth Ski Way in New Hamshire. Murdock purchased these Italian-made chairs
from them in 1992 to serve as backup chairs for the
original summit double chair and for the Paddy’s beginner chairlift at Butternut, also
a Carlavaro, which through great care is still in operation at the resort today.

Murdock also purchased 23 Borvig chairs along with the other lift
components and a 15 horsepower drive unit from another mountain. These
components were installed at Butternut as the Scooter lift in 1969 which, in tandem with the Paddy’s chairlift, serviced the area’s numerous
beginner clients. Today a series of four Sun Kid carpet lifts in conjunction with the
Paddy’s chairlift better serve the continual mix of beginners.