As every skier already knows, what goes down must first go up, so it’s no surprise that ski-lifts play a key role in providing the perfect ski experience. In its most basic form a lift can consist of little more than a continuous loop of rope between two pulleys, providing what is popularly referred to, unsurprisingly, as a rope-tow.

Simplicity itself to use, if a little tedious because of their low speeds, the rope tows are generally found only in beginner areas, particularly for smaller children. A slightly more sophisticated alternative form of novice transport is the magic-carpet lift (shown right), on which skiers simply stand to be carried over modest distances, usually in dedicated ski-school teaching areas.

Surface Lifts

Next comes the button, surface or drag-lift — also referred to as a ‘Poma-lift’. This places the loop (in this case a steel cable) up high out of harm’s way on a series of steel piers, so the system can be deployed around the mountain without unduly inconveniencing other skiers. To ride up the slope from the ‘loading area’ the skier or boarder simply takes a parked pole, which is attached to the cable by a simple clutch mechanism, and places the lower rubber disc or ‘button’ between his/her legs. As the clutch engages the pole is pulled smoothly away, along with the rider – in theory, at least. In practise the technique requires a good sense of balance and a degree of familiarity, as many skiers have discovered to their cost (and to their colleagues’ amusement).

A skier safely under way up the mountain from the loading area of this surface lift in the tiny family ski resort of Hautacam, Hautes-Pyrénées.

Given sufficient power, the capacity of the lift can be doubled if the button is replaced with a bar, allowing tow skiers to ride alongside each other. The result, known as a Tee-Bar lift, is less frequently encountered in Europe these days, and operators tend to prohibit single skiers from using the lift, because of safety issues. Either way, though, progress up the mountain is slow: the typical speed of a drag-lift is around 100 metres per minute.

Chair-Lifts

In its simplest form a chair-lift or ‘telesiege’ has two- three- or four-seater chairs permanently fixed at regular intervals to a similar continuous cable. Getting on and off a fixed chair-lift like this in safety requires caution, and limits the speed (and hence the overall skiers-per-hour capacity) of the lift.

The logical successor to the fixed chairlift is the high-speed detachable or ‘débrayable’ lift, which slows down the chairs for calmer loading or unloading. It does so by an ingenious clutch system, which allows the chairs to be lifted clear of the fast moving cable as it passes around the pulley or drum of the top or bottom stations (and also occasionally a mid-point station). The cabin support arm is then transported around the same arc as the cable by a series of small wheels, fitted with rubber tyres.

A state-of-the-art six-seater detachable chair-lift in Sainte Foy Tarentaise.

Once the skiers are safely on or off the chairs the same transport mechanism then passes them onto an inclined rail for an accelerated descent ready to rejoin the cable for a speedy journey up or down the mountain. In areas prone to icy winds (or where lift rides are long or slow) the chairs can be filled with Perspex covers which can be raised or lowered to give protection and comfort to skiers. Detachable lifts typically carry 4-8 skiers per chair.

The Gondola Lift

King of the ski-lifts is the gondola or ‘telecabine’, which employs the same technical abilities as the detachable chairlift, but with fully-enclosed cabins (often referred to as ‘bubbles’). Each can accommodate 4-14 passengers and some are even heated. Luxury like this doesn’t come cheap, but such protection allows lift designers to contemplate ever longer and faster journeys. In practise this allows skiers (or non-skiers, for that matter) to make in a single hop an ascent which would otherwise require multiple conventional lifts to accomplish.

The Grand Massif Express high-speed godola lift offers rapid and comfortable access to the vast ski terrain above Samoëns, Haute-Savoie.

The investment also pays other dividends, not least by providing towns and villages in neighbouring valleys with direct high-speed access to high altitude ski terrain, thereby transforming the local economies. Two shining examples are the Olympe, created for the Olympic Games in 1992 at Brides-les-Bains (Savoie) and the Grand Massif Express, opened in 2004 at Samoëns (Haute-Savoie).