Olympic Chair

One of the classic Murray-Latta doubles that defined skiing at Lake Louise for decades. Built in 1964 to serve the new Men’s and Ladies’ Olympic downhill runs cut on Whitehorn for a hoped-for 1972 Winter Games bid. Ran from near the base up to the Upper Wiwaxy area, giving true top-to-bottom access together with the Summit Platter (from 1975) and the Whitehorn gondola.

Design: Classic Murray-Latta layout; vault drive at the bottom, counterweight tensioning at the top, widely spaced simple tube towers; giving it a long, slightly “floaty” ride. Known for being long and slow; once faster lifts arrived (Friendly Giant, then Glacier Express), most people avoided Olympic unless everything else was busy.

Removal: Became redundant after the Yan detachable Friendly Giant (1989) and Glacier Express (2000). Stopped operating around 2004; physical removal of towers and terminals completed around 2020. The Ladies’ Downhill was later renamed Lake Lindsey Way in honour of Lindsey Vonn.