 Poster: A snowHead
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As a novice skiier I get lots of information about lifts whenever I look at a resort - but I'm not sure what they all are?
I've been on a POMA lift at XScape and some years ago used ski lifts in the summer at Les Gets - I'm guessing they were chair lifts and a bubble? Anyone able to provide me with a glossary of different types and the pros and cons for skiiers?
Many thanks.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Téléski - drag or button lifts are often called POMAs but this is a bit of a misnomer as Pomagalski make all sorts of ski lifts. Anyway, you know what they are and will probably have realised that they are the least desirable forms of ski lift - at least they are for most skiers 
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Sun 20-01-08 15:08; edited 1 time in total
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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?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Télésiège - fixed speed chair lift
Télésiège débrayable - detachable chair lift. The chair comes off the main cable onto a slower system at the top and bottom of the lift for easier mounting and dismounting. Some have a moving carpet incorporated to speed things up a bit.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Télécabine - gondola or bubble. Small enclosed cabins, usually for between 4 - 8 people. The skis or boards are normally placed into slots on the outside, causing some distress to newer skiers who are often convinced that their skis will fall off during the journey. The ski slots on older bubbles are usually too narrow for modern 'fat' skis and are a bit of a pain to use.
There are a few open gondolas about which look quite comical.
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Sun 20-01-08 15:29; edited 1 time in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Téléphérique - Cable car. Much larger cabin that can take hundreds of passengers, normally standing. Skis are normally taken inside.
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Randonnée skiing, a need for nothing other than fresh air and a pair of lungs.
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Surface drag lifts i.e. button type and T-bar (2 man version) are often knicknamed Poma lifts, as Poma were one of the first major manufacturers of such ski lifts. But Poma now make all kinds of lifts as NickB mentioned.
So lift types:-
Drag Lift (buttons & T-bars)
Chairlift - can be 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 open seaters. The modern faster ones that slow down when getting on/off are often referred to as high speed - detachable)
Gondola - sometimes known as "bubble lifts". You remove your skis and walk into an enclosed bubble. Usually carry about 10 people)
Cable Car - Huge 50-100 man beasts, the sort of thing you see in old James Bond films.
There are also a few tram lifts around, basically a small train.
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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.
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Funiculaire - Surface lift, normally a chain/cable towed train such as the excellent Grand Motte funicular in Tignes which passes through a tunnel in the mountain. These tunnel trains have the advantage of taking many hundreds of passengers, very quickly with minmal impact on the environment.
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Dont forget the "bucket lifts which carry only two people standing up-right and you have get into on the move.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Rope tows - a rope on a pulley system that you hold on to usually combined with a grim expression and clenched teeth/buttocks. Normally fairly short across flat terrain
Magic carpets - shortish conveyors like the moving pavements in airports normally found alongside nursery slopes for kids.
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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.
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Should've checked Wikipedia first - Ski lifts 
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| NickB wrote: |
| Funiculaire - Surface lift, normally a chain/cable towed train such as the excellent Grand Motte funicular in Tignes which passes through a tunnel in the mountain. These tunnel trains have the advantage of taking many hundreds of passengers, very quickly with minmal impact on the environment. |
"...with minimal impact on the environment"? Well, I suppose it is if you don't count blowing up the inside of the mountain! I seem to remember a big, if unsuccessful, campaign against the Cairngorm funicular a few years ago.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Stevo wrote: |
| "...with minimal impact on the environment"? Well, I suppose it is if you don't count blowing up the inside of the mountain! I seem to remember a big, if unsuccessful, campaign against the Cairngorm funicular a few years ago. |
OK, minimal VISUAL impact
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Poster: A snowHead
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Sherpa - someone who carries your skis wherever you direct him!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Mazza,
Poma or 'button' lift - drag lift that normally rearranges your testicles and stops frequently while boarders get tangled and fall off.
T-Bar - variation of the above with large T shaped bar (clue is in the name) that can rearrange both your testicles and those of your mate. Also stops frequently while boarders fall off. Best not shared with female partner as she will sit on the bar taking it down to the level of your ankles which gets tiring on the steeper stretches.
2 man chair - old relatively slow chair-lift that when mounting nonetheless manages to hit precisely that part of your calf that your ski-boots have already made sore.
4/6/8 man chair. Much faster version that disengages from the cable, slows down and hence avoids the calf damage described above. However usually equipped with hydraulically (un) damped safety bar that will inflict major brain damage when panicking Italian pulls it down during the 1st second of boarding. Often equipped with heavy plastic wind cover that comes down with the bar, making it almost impossible to disembark once closed.
Bubble lift - small gondola which seats around 6 people or 18 flatulent French ski school kids
Gondola - larger version of bubble. holds dozens of flatulent smoking Italians.
Furnicular - train with a floor designed to make it impossible to stand upright at any angle.
HTH 
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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?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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And if you go to Lech, you can sample the 8 man variety with heated seats 
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Last year in Les Deux Alpes I had my first ride on a furnicular, it made me feel a bit uneasy, but only because it felt like I was taking my skis to work on the Tube! Almost looked for my Oyster card when I got off!
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| Caspar wrote: |
And if you go to Lech, you can sample the 8 man variety with heated seats |
Or at Kaltenbach (Zillertal area).
Incidentally, there are still quite a few 4 man fixed grip chairs around, you can't go by the number of seats as AxsMan suggests.
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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.
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More details than you ever need to know about ski lifts in La Plagne here. Click on the name of each lift and even more details appear. (Although my youngest daughter is most concerned that the total number of each chairs on each chairlift isn't noted, so she is compiling this vital info ) http://www.perso-laplagne.fr/Skilifts.htm
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