How to use a rope tow (1961 guidance)

A snowHead

This 1961 cartoon [click zoom button at bottom right of picture to enlarge] from the archives of the New England Ski Museum gives some practical advice on using rope tows. Rope tows were the predominant, or only, uplift at many ski areas until the Sixties because they were seriously cheap.

If you're ever unfortunate enough to need to use a rope tow, pay particular attention to the final instructions. "Don't snap rope" is a good one.

Any old timers like to share any memories of rope tows? I don't put myself in that category (!) but do recall many rides up plastic slopes and grass ski slopes in the 1970s, with burning arms. A great advantage was having a steel rope rather than a rope rope, and a natty little lever handle you could close onto it. This saved the rope running through your hands.

Rope tows used to be powered by all sorts of engines from old cars and lorries etc. Maybe we can unearth some historical photos.

A snowHead

Never mind history there is one now forming part of the link between La Plagne & Les Arcs. Going from Bellecote via the Arpette Chair, there is a traverse at one point which has a rope tow. No handles or any other grabbing devices. Just a nylon rope. Fortunately, the ground it covers is more or less flat so it's not difficult to use or scary (unlike the old ones in your topic providing uplift) but the contrast between that and the state-of-the-art double-decker Vanoise Express Cable Car amuses me. On the most direct way back to LP from Les Arcs there are 2 parallel short but steep Poma drags. More of a problem.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

These are popping up all over the place - there's one in Deux Alpes and a couple in Soldeu that I'm aware of.

I find they're a pain....literally....I don't seem to be able to grip tight enough to stop slipping backwards down the rope and I've got cramp in my fingers by the time I get to the top. Not to mention little kids dragging them down so they're only a couple of feet of the ground!

Are they cheaper/easier to install than buttons that they're becoming so popular?

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Specially for DG here's a bit of Aussie skiing history to balance my mini rant about Paradiski's lack of planning.
Falls Creek. Scroll down about 1/2 way to find the bit about rope tows from which

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

The other problem is that the rope isn't the only thing you've got to hold onto!

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I remember that there used to be one at the bottom of the the Ahorn in Mayhofen about 18-20 years ago. It was initially used as a nursery slope (snow permitting), but very quickly got taken over by kids on sledges!

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Here's some good pictures.

After all it is free

Here's a great one from Alta in Utah, for which it was clearly an advantage to have long arms, or Tarzanian ambitions.

I was worried by that one, but I think these people have overshot the exit zone...

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Yes, I believe the ski technique is known as 'hanging up the washing".

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They still use one of these at the top of Fernie - "Face lift" give about 100m extra vertical, whish doesn;t sound very much but just goves that extra few seconds of soft stuff since themajority of people can't be bothered to use it : it's not the easiest lift in the world

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There are a couple running alongside the very lengthy car park at Val Claret, and elsewhere at Espace Killy. I think they're ok, and especially useful for people with small children.

We need to differentiate between these short namby-pampy rope tows which pull punters up gentle inclines (sometimes to link a couple of lifts and save the poor bunnies from a little walk uphill), and serious rope tows that pull you up pitches steep enough to wrench the arms from a gorilla.

You know it makes sense.

Does anyone know of any serious, really steep rope tows still in existence ? On commercially run slopes (as opposed to club facilities operating on a shoestring), I'd have thought the Health & Safety nannies would have outlawed them by now. Too much risk of slipping off and wiping out others in a domino effect. Pomas and T's are quite enough of a challenge for most these days.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

kuwait_ian, in the low budget sport of grass skiing, when the lifts aren't in operation, we sometimes set up a tow for the day, powered by a portable generator. Not namby pamby tows by any means, these! Yet useable by kids as young as 5 or 6 with a bit of nous (and without gorilla-sized biceps)...

A snowHead

There's a rope tow at Ischgl to link two lifts, very short, very flat with handles. They can nip a kids hands between the handle and the rope, pulling the screaming kid up by the trapped fingers. Thankfully the drag on being pulled along the ground on his back with ski edges dug in was enough to pull the fingers out in Sam's case, with no more than a badly mauled little finger.

We've stopped letting the kids use these short namby-pampy lifts now, after a frightening fall last year on a magic carpet at Val d'Isere, now this incident.

A snowHead

kuwait_ian, there is a nice friendly little tow at Fernie, called "The Face" if I remember correctly.

well I suppose it helps to get their lift count up towards double figures.......
(does access some nice snow though, so worth the pain)

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Here's a link to a pic, http://far.redtree.com/2000/small/DSCN1799.jpg
the caption says (Folks riding up the Face Lift with Fernie in background)

and underneath :- Semi affectionately known as the 'Meat Hook', this ugly little lift leads to some of the best snow on the hill.

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Closer to home there are still various rope tows in operation in the hills of Northern England.

Over the last 30 years I can think of at least 17 seperate semi permanent fixed rope tows that have operated in the North Pennines, Lake District, Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales. In addition lots of clubs and individuals have also operated their own portable tows, such as the popular 'Briton lift', which is still available to buy.

Today however there are only 5 permanent rope tows left. All of these are in the North Pennines. The two in Upper Teesdale (County Durham) are operated by the Harwood Ski Federation and are about 400m long. The other system is in Allendale (Northumberland) where the British Norwegian Ski Club operate 3 semi permanent lifts, whenever conditions are suitable.

Most of the other lifts have now been removed although at Yad Moss, Raise and Weardale the earlier rope tows have been repalced by Pomas or Dopplemyers. On Raise The Lake District Ski Club also have a supplementary rope tow which extends the length of their run, although this hasn't been used in recent seasons.

To connect to the rope we used a special 'fail safe' clip fitted to a car seatbelt around our waist. With practice this was a very effective means of uplift. The main disadvantage being that the system tended to get buried after each snowfall. It was however simple and cheap to operate.

The system at Yad Moss was powered by a Lister diesel. A secondary summit tow was initially powered by an amazing mini engine conversion which had originally been designed to drive itself into position then swap the drive chains to operate the tow. The diesel that replaced it proved a lot more reliable and thumped away all day with no complaints. There has in fact been some recent pressure on the Club to reinstall a rope tow because novice snowboarders find them easier to use than our Poma!

I actually have some digital pictures of the rope tows at Yad Moss but don't know how to upload them to this site.

The somewhat obscure subject of English snow skiing is probably worthy of a written history somewhere, before it becomes a memory or simply an archaeological curiosity.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Peter S, good stuff. Sounds like skiing everywhere in UK is on a decline - not just in Scotland. Sad.
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Peter S, a documented history of snow skiing in England would be wonderful - and who better qualified to write it but you? - but I'd ask that it be extended to 'England and Wales', especially to include that insane snowmaking project at Merthy Tydfil, and its ill-fated T-bar. For this was no ropetow hill. Does any snowHead have the unique promotional leaflet? - I have a memory of it promising skiing from November to May.

Did any other snowHeads visit the magic site? It deserves a memorial stone, with amusing inscription.

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Peter S, as kuwait_ian says, you're welcome to post pics at http://www.skicardiff.com/photos/

(if you create a new gallery please locate it in one of the snowHeads sub-categories rather than the parent one as a couple of folk have done - if you don't like the existing categories please request a new one

)

After all it is free

Jonpim, Welcome back. We are both multi-repeat visitors to BP and I've been in the Eldorador once when your gasmen were in residence. I'm not complaining about that rope tow. Just pointing out they are not a thing of the past.

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kuwait_ian, if you are ever back in the "Eldorador" (will be different name in 2005, has been bought by Mercure) in last week of January, you must look me up. Large amounts of alcohol will be consumed, and we would love to hear your life story.

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Sorry, yes I meant t-bars, I had a momentary lapse and reverted to a term I seem to remember from that time.

I didn't realise there are still so many about. I've mostly skied in France for many years. (Though there are still t-bars in France, now I come to think about it - for example the top of La Grave)

You know it makes sense.

Ahh - t-bars. Was a bit surprised to find some at whistler - is it a common lift to put on a glacier or something?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Mark Lehto, they're very wind resistant and theoretically have double the capacity of a button.

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skanky I much prefer button tows but I guess the detachable kind are that bit more complicated if you are in a tough environment.

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Mark Lehto, yes I think it's true to say that T-bars are the predominant lifts on glaciers. The skill is minimising the number of pylons to minimise the need to relocate them on the ice. There's a brilliant example of this on the glacier above La Grave, where the natural curvature (catenary) of the cable parallels the surface of the slope. It's a really long lift with (from memory) only one pylon.

At Zermatt they've recently opened a big chairlift with ice-mounted pylons, which is quite a feat of engineering since the pylons are far bigger.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Mark Lehto, most people prefer buttons because (a) there's no balancing involved and (b) getting off is much easier. However as long as people are doubling up and not falling off too much, the capacity is, as I say, double that of a button.

At Flims/Laax, for example, they have two T's on the glacier which can give them the equivalent of a 4-man chair (though modern chairs are faster), which can remain open for a lot longer (it can get very windy up there) and they close one down if the numbers are not that great.

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skanky I was going to guess that the capacity wouldnt be double that of a detachable button... presumably still higher though I could be convinced otherwise.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Mark Lehto, you mean because the buttons can be more densely packed on the wire? If so, I doubt that it'd make a huge difference, but don't really know as I'm not sure I've ever seen a detatchable button.

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skanky, many button lifts are detachable. They stack up in a rack at the departure point and grab the wire when the liftie stamps on the control. Only very old ones are fixed on the wire. The main problem with them is the buttons can drag in the deep snow after a dump and it doesn't do either the 'piste' or the spring mechanisms any good.

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kuwait_ian, most of the ones I've seen are the ones with fixed buttons that retract back when not in use. I vaguely recall the odd detatchable one (at Val d'Isere?), but there weren't enough people around to see how densely packed they could be.

I wonder if the intermittent requirement for liftie's input also make the T's good for glaciers as they don't need to be permanently standing out in a strong wind and can step back into a sheltered spot - certainly the one at Laax seemed to spend half his time in the lee of his hut.

After all it is free

skanky, as I recall the double drags from the bottom at tignes are detachable (as a f'rinstance). I guess they can be closer packed but also they can be faster. And the slightly more modern ones dont need a liftie actually present - there is a gate thingy which detects a skier leaving and inhibits the next button for a while.

On the downside you quite often get trouble as the buttons stack - which would seem to require the use of a large hammer and copious swearing.

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Mark Lehto, not sure I've ever used the ones in Tignes (having only been over there from Val d'Isere during the day). I take the point about faster and more highly packed, though.

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How to use a rope tow (1961 guidance)

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