Reimagining the T-Bar

While snowboarding with my son, we got chatting about t-bars, a nearly obsolete form of ski lift. T-bars would pull skiers and snowboarders uphill while keeping their equipment on the ground. The idea was brilliant but not user-friendly. Weaker skiers and snowboarders often fell backward, toppling everyone behind them as they slid down the hill.

Despite their flaws, t-bars had some undeniable benefits. They were relatively inexpensive, had simple construction, and were straightforward to maintain. However, they lost out to chairlifts and magic carpets, which have become ubiquitous on hills worldwide. As my son and I rode a multi-million-dollar lift, I wondered: Why hasn’t anyone reimagined the t-bar?

Why hasn’t someone taken the best elements of the T-bar — its affordability, simplicity, and efficiency — and reimagined it for modern use?

This lack of refinement is common in problem-solving. When a solution doesn’t work perfectly, we often discard it entirely rather than exploring ways to improve it. In business, as in life, solutions that don’t work are often replaced by alternatives that seem better without fully considering whether the initial concept held value worth saving.

Reimagining the t-bar might sound odd, but it’s an example of how innovation can come from revisiting and refining what came before.