 Poster: A snowHead
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I have noticed a seemingly random array of methods of raising people up mountains.
Obviously:
1. bubbles & underground railways & 8-seater chairs take a large number of people up a long way very quickly.
2. chairs can cross rocks, ravines and valleys in the way that drags cannot.
But otherwise, why choose one rather than the other? And what do people prefer and why?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I would assume drags are easier to install, and less susceptable to slight movement which is why you tend to see the more on glaciers...
On a nice day I prefer chairs, on a rubbishier day then heated charis with lids 
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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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They all have their uses. Draglifts work in very high winds and as Bertie says work better on glaciers as the Pylons are much easier to move as the glacier moves. Some draglifts pylons are even capable of being moved 'in-situ". They are also much cheaper and easier to maintain. Cable cars are the worst for maintenance, many a resort has installed one only to find they couldn't run it long term.
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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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Thanks, bertie bassett, I've decided to remove the staircase from my house in order to put in a poma.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Chairlift up, death slide down....now I'd buy that house!
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| James the Last wrote: |
| Thanks, bertie bassett, I've decided to remove the staircase from my house in order to put in a poma. |
Don't you mean a Stana?
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| James the Last wrote: |
| Thanks, bertie bassett, I've decided to remove the staircase from my house in order to put in a poma. |
You're not trying hard enough.
Some birtish guys recently appropriated some of that redundant matting used for dryslopes - the diamond stuff with the bristles, and built a kicker in their back garden
http://www.snowboardclub.co.uk/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t-29089.html
Enjoy
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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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| James the Last wrote: |
| what do people prefer and why? |
I don't really mind at all - I don't mind draglifts in the slightest unlike a lot of people seemingly. The only sort of lifts that I really don't like are the gondolas with the rack on the outside for putting your skis in. I had a bad experience in Les Arcs last year with one of them and some twintips, and now I just don't like them anymore 
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What are these lifts of which you speak - doesn't everyone get dropped off at the top by their own helicopter 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
Boris
super-snowHead
Posts: 6832
Location: Lost in my own imagination |
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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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| James the Last wrote: |
I have noticed a seemingly random array of methods of raising people up mountains.
Obviously:
1. bubbles & underground railways & 8-seater chairs take a large number of people up a long way very quickly.
2. chairs can cross rocks, ravines and valleys in the way that drags cannot.
But otherwise, why choose one rather than the other? And what do people prefer and why? |
I think you also need to look it as an evolution of technology, capability, cost and number of people required to be moved up a hill.
Day 1 Railwaiys / funiculars
Day 2 Primitive Cable cars but probably not for skiing
Day 3 a drag was the easiest way to get people up a hill unless some kind Victorian had built a railway or funicular.
Day 4 chair lifts
Day 5 Better cable cars / gondolas
Day 6 Underground funiculars
Day 7 Detachable chairs / funitels etc
and when tho god of uplift gives up think about teleportation to get to the top?
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Think there are moving cables for piste users to grab onto and drag along a short distance.
At the nusery slope there are also moving flat plastic platforms similar to those aluminium ones used in the airport.
If a skier has gone up to a 3000+m level on a windy day he/she would know immediately know why people put T bar/drag lift there instead of chairlift/godola as he/she would not like to be on the latter.
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You know it makes sense.
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stevew, I think on the first day they walked
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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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I've never worked why some go clockwise and others anti though.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I prefer chairs as you don't have to take your skis off. On a snowey day a chair with a cover is my preferance
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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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I keep on looking for the knot in the chair lift cables. They are not like rubber bands and made in a loop. The cables come wound on drums and have to be wrapped around the pylons. The the ends have to be joined. So where is the knot? And how do they measure the length of cable needed? They must allow for the deep drops as the cable curves down under its own weight between the pylons. And after they have wrapped the cable around the pylons, how do they keep the cable tight enough to tie the knots? (These are the knots I keep looking for.) Perhaps Mr Pomagalski and Mr Doppelmayr are magicians.
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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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| Quote: |
| Aerial passenger ropeways were known in Asia well before the 1600s for crossing chasms in mountainous regions. Men would traverse a woven fiber line hand over hand. Evolutionary refinement added a harness or basket to also transport cargo. |
from Wikipedia. We should think ourselves lucky...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Adrian wrote: |
| The the ends have to be joined. So where is the knot? And how do they measure the length of cable needed? They must allow for the deep drops as the cable curves down under its own weight between the pylons. And after they have wrapped the cable around the pylons, how do they keep the cable tight enough to tie the knots? (These are the knots I keep looking for.) Perhaps Mr Pomagalski and Mr Doppelmayr are magicians. |
They splice the strands together. I've seen them doing maintenance on an out-of-service drag.
The cables are usually tensioned with a large weight at one end of the lift. Usually a massive lump of concrete down a hole with cables of its own acting round a big pulley, then pulling on the assembly that holds the main pulley.
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In many lifts it is easy to see the tensioning system, so the mechanism in an installed lift is obvious. My question was about pulling the ends together before knotting or splicing the cable when installing it.
But I've made some of you think hard about splicing the cables.
The mechanics of ski lift design and installation is fascinating. I use lifts lots but have no real idea of how they are made, how strong the cables are, how they do the sums about cable strength needed. Thanks, mark_s, for the Wikipedia links.
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For extra speed on a chairlift, do you prefer the detachable sort, or the non-detachable that has a moving carpet load?
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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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In my book ski lifts are feats of engineering genuis. The 3S-Bahn in Kitzbühel in particular blew me away, it spans a yawning chasm of a valley with no pylons!! Amazing...
I'm so sad I've even been known to stand under the local gondola lift at Matlock Bath, shut my eyes and listen to it to be transported away to a much higher mountain someplace else. Sigh...
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| Butterfly wrote: |
| For extra speed on a chairlift, do you prefer the detachable sort, or the non-detachable that has a moving carpet load? |
Both on the same chair ... however most moving carpets on detachables are just to make sure people load in the right place rather than to speed it up.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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skinutter, yikes
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| stevew wrote: |
| skinutter, yikes |
whole new meaning to the detachable chairlifts
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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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| tomstickland wrote: |
| I've never worked why some go clockwise and others anti though. |
It's so that they don't impart spin to the whole resort 
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
I've never worked why some go clockwise and others anti though.
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Isn't it dependent on which way the water goes down the plughole?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I prefer chairs (preferably fast ones with a cover) as I dont particularly want to take my skis off, that said, in Whistler i really did get an appreciation for the type of 6/8 man bubble as you got to sit down out of the weather!
Worst type of lift are those large gondolas where they cram as many people in as possible all standing up holding their skis, very uncomfortable.
As for that video, amazing footage! good job no one was on it though!
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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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In addition to the easier installation of drag lifts (they can be screwed in to the ice and then moved every summer when they become out of alignment if necessary).
Drags can of course go around bends - ever seen a chairlift do this?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
Drags can of course go around bends - ever seen a chairlift do this?
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Yes - at the top they turn 180 degrees and head back down the slope
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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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Drags just aren't any fun on a board. They're olerable at MK but when they're about 500m long then that's just hell on earth.
Chairlifts for me, although the allure of a bubble is nice when the weather is pants 
| kkev wrote: |
| Drags can of course go around bends - ever seen a chairlift do this? |
Surely there must be a design to do this with chairs? I can't imagine every chair is totally straight?...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| kkev wrote: |
In addition to the easier installation of drag lifts (they can be screwed in to the ice and then moved every summer when they become out of alignment if necessary).
Drags can of course go around bends - ever seen a chairlift do this? |
There is no reason why they shouldn't, given that both drags and chairs operate by means of a continuous loop of cable running over supports.
But because the "passengers" are not in contact with the surface, there is no need to turn to make use of/avoid surface features the way drags will often do.
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There is a chairlift in Killington that makes a very sharp left turn. When loading onto it we were warned about it by the liftie but, being ruffty tuffty skiers (or imagining ourselves as such) we laughed about it. All I can say is that the first time we took the bend it was very alarming, one minute you're going one way, the next you lurch round the corner. Great fun to take someone on it who does not know what's coming!
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The Penkenbahn (main Mayrhofen gondola) makes a small full speed turn, maybe 10 degrees at the first tower. Puts the fear of god into all downhill passengers as it makes quite a rumble!
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Mon 24-11-08 19:26; edited 2 times in total
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And there is at least one chairlift in Zermatt (from Furgg toward Furggsattel) that goes round a bend
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