Chair #69 Selling for $2,300+ at Washington Ski Area

Originally posted on Powder | By Ian Greenwood | Last updated Jun 24, 2025 1:35 PM ET

It’s chairlift replacement season which means it’s also chairlift auction season. One ongoing auction features a two-seater Riblet first installed at Alpental, Washington, in 1967.

Called Edelweiss, the lift, which is set to be replaced with a three-seater, is deeply revered by the local ski community. But in the auction, one chair is drawing more attention than most: Chair #69, which has a current bid above $2,300. Bids for different chairs are largely hovering between $1,000 and $1,500.

We don’t need to tell you why Chair #69 might fetch one of the auction's highest prices (a few chair bids, at the time of writing this, have slid past Chair #69, including Chair #1 and Chair #19). It is funny, however, to see a decades-spanning meme actually impact how much people are willing to pay for a lift. May the highest bidder win.

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The Edelweiss auction began on June 23 and continues until 9 p.m. PST on June 25, 2025. Fifty-five chairs are available. Bidders can join the auction and learn more by clicking this link. Alpental Is also holding a prize draw with $5 tickets and five chairs up for grabs, as well as auctioning off a few other Edelweiss parts, including bull wheels and the auxiliary generator.

All proceeds from the auction will benefit four local nonprofits: Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation, EducationFoundation for Cle Elum-Roslyn, Encompass NW, and Easton School District. So far, Alpental has raised more than $94,000.

Up until this past ski season, Edelweiss was a vital part of Alpental’s lift network. The chair was the lone access point to the ski area’s upper mountain, depositing skiers above the gates to the popular Back Bowls area. Anyone who’s spent a considerable part of their life skiing at Alpental has a trove of fond memories associated with Edelweiss.

During the 2024-2025 ski season, Alpental reduced the pressure on Edelweiss by opening the Internationale chair, another lift that crawled into the upper mountain area. But Edelweiss’ legendary status remained. When the ski area hosted a send-off for the lift last spring, crowds of skiers and snowboarders came to pay their respects.

Next winter, the Edelweiss experience will look a little different and, thanks to the three-seater, likely involve shorter lift lines. The terrain that made Edelweiss so classic isn’t going anywhere, though.

This article first appeared on Powder and was syndicated with permission.

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