Interesting article here about the history of skilifts. I knew that the first chairlift had been installed in Sun Valley Idaho, I'm pretty certain that it will be the one that was shown in the skiing scenes in the 1941 film Sun Valley Serenade ( look at the chairlift shown at 37:55 onwards): http://youtube.com/v/cUnVNzeVPpI
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Incidentally I noticed that the chairlift support towers have a rudimentary bit of padding around their base, I guess US customer litigation was a concern even back then!
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Thanks @Alastair Pink, an interesting read.
There is obviously a small cult of ski-lift history enthusiasts. Try www.remontees-mecaniques.net for lifts in the French Alps (unless you have technical French you will like me need Google Translate). More information than you could dream of, and some great old photos.
I don't believe it does. Case of cutting and pasting the text. However the results are much closer to a human translation than Google in my experience. Well at least the English translations look much more natural to a native speaker. I would not presume to say what translations into something other than English are like.
The best way to test is paste some text in and translate to your chosen language. Then repeat translating it back to English. When you compare the two using this method the translation back into English from DeepL is much better than Google in my view.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
jabuzzard wrote:
I don't believe it does. Case of cutting and pasting the text. However the results are much closer to a human translation than Google in my experience. Well at least the English translations look much more natural to a native speaker. I would not presume to say what translations into something other than English are like.
The best way to test is paste some text in and translate to your chosen language. Then repeat translating it back to English. When you compare the two using this method the translation back into English from DeepL is much better than Google in my view.
Totally agreed, Deepl is by far better than google translate.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Did they have a blanket of some form that use to form part of the chairlift? - it sure looks like there was - at first I thought it was his jacket when he sat on the the lift, with the interior fleece showing, then when he got off the lift it remained.
Also love the "do not tour* alone"
*edited to fix typo
Last edited by After all it is free on Thu 4-02-21 22:32; edited 1 time in total
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
extremerob, Looked like it was attached to the safety bar, which they swung across.
Some of the skiing in the film looked impressive too
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
It’s a canvass sheet, or similar.
I’ve ridden chairs with a similar arrangement (possibly at Westendorf or Hintertux).
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Marksky wrote:
It’s a canvass sheet, or similar.
I’ve ridden chairs with a similar arrangement (possibly at Westendorf or Hintertux).
Yep, most of us who were skiing in the 1980s will have encountered old single chairs where some fabric was attached to the swing arm safety bar so that when you brought it across to the safety position it acted as a windbreak for your lower half.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Alastair Pink wrote:
Marksky wrote:
It’s a canvass sheet, or similar.
I’ve ridden chairs with a similar arrangement (possibly at Westendorf or Hintertux).
Yep, most of us who were skiing in the 1980s will have encountered old single chairs where some fabric was attached to the swing arm safety bar so that when you brought it across to the safety position it acted as a windbreak for your lower half.
Nope, never encountered that particular luxury!
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
The luxury now is the chairs move faster (even if not with hoods).
I’ll have encountered such a chair in mid 90s , or more recent.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Bones wrote:
Some of the skiing in the film looked impressive too
Yes, I wondered whether Sonja Henie (the Norwegian Olympic ice skater who plays the female lead in the film and of course does the ice skating sequences) who apparently learned to ski at an early age actually did the skiing sequences in the film too, but according to this, apparently not. Quote: All the Sun Valley scenes were shot by the second unit; the stars never left Hollywood. The ski lift sequence and the two skiing scenes were not performed by stunt people but by amateur skiers at Sun Valley who could physically match the stars in long shot. John Payne was doubled by James Loranger of Sacramento; research has not been able to discover who doubled Sonja Henie and Milton Berle. Each of the three sequences took about two days to shoot.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Nice article - lift-world is a great website for lift geeks.
Shep -if you like bio's and it popped up on Gretchen's was Otto Langs - from ski instructor in the early days in st anton through to hollywod movie director - in a magazine article he said there was an old man in st anton who would ask him every morning as he carried his skis to work in the 1920s 'bish du nit heen' are you not dead yet ?
As far as i am aware, not incuding rope tows - europes first proper ski lift - there's a clip of it in this video from Davos
I am surprised nobody has mentioned Wengen. The first mechanical uplift for skiing was when British skiers at Wengen persuaded the local officials to run the railway to Kleine Schedegge in winter. This was the genesis, in 1925 of the foundation of the "Downhill Only" Ski Club. Up till then you always had to climb up first.
Chair lifts weren't the first ski-lifts. As the video above says, the first T-bar (or initially J-bar) ski lift in the world was introduced in Davos. The T-bar ski lift was designed by Zurich engineer Ernst Gustav Constam who registered his invention with the patent office in 1930. Four years later the first ski lift went into operation.
I don't know if there were any simpler rope tows earlier than that, similar to the tractor powered ones you still get now in the UK.
And what about cable cars (USA aerial tramway). They go back to 1644 and the first one for people 1893. Didn't any get used by a skier before the first drag lift? After all, one of the first was in Chamonix.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@snowball, I believe it was St Antons Galzigbahn by Bleichart that was the first cablecar built primarily for skiing (arguably at least in Austria), others had popped up around the mountains before but for summer tourism.
But have references for earlier ones in Engelberg 1928, and Parsenbahn, brevent chamonix 1930, Davos 1931 used for skiing