How the triple chair was invented

In 1971, while I still was a ski instructor in Avoriaz, France, my co-workers and I were already fascinated by increased productivity and never a day passed without us thinking how to make this planet a better place. At that time, besides its tram similar to those of Squaw Valley or Snowbird, the nascent ski resort of Avoriaz was equipped with a network or surface lifts and double-chairs. These two-person lifts had been in operation since 1958. One day, Jean-Claude Page, François Chauplannaz and I decided to squeeze a bit more than usual and ride the double-chair together. Everything went fine, the seat held up and neither the cable broke nor the towers buckled. When we returned to the ski school however, we learned that Michel Muffat, the lift company operations director, spotted us from the ground and we were told that we’d be banned from using the resort’s chairlifts for one full week. At that time we were lucky to have almost every chair doubled up with a surface pomalift, so we had to be a bit more creative as we were giving lessons, eying our clients on the chair up above while we were sliding up a track, on a side below. Our only hope was that the lift we were on wouldn’t stop leaving our students standing in the cold and waiting for us at the top. As you can see, innovation doesn’t come without pain and thanks to our hard pioneering work and selflessness, the double-chair paradigm was broken; two years later Pomagalski was installing its first European triple chair, in Val Cenis, France and we'd soon see four, six, and today eight folks riding up the same chair...