Detachable chairlift at Timberline Lodge Ski Area, Mount Hood, USA

Funitel at La Plagne, France

Platter lift at Mt. Pizol, Switzerland

Ski lift mechanism in the resort of Tsakhkadzor, Armenia

The term ski lift can refer to many different types of uphill transport, in three main classes:

Lift systems and networks

The network lifts at a ski resort can be arranged in several patterns depending on the size and topography of the area. Several lifts may be arranged radially outward from a common base area, with top stations along surrounding peaks and ridges. Lifts may also run radially inward from several base stations to a common summit area. Ski areas located along the face of a long ridge may simply have numerous lifts running roughly parallel, while many ski areas have two or more lifts in parallel in high-traffic areas for increased capacity. A small percentage of ski areas have lifts which cross one another, usually with an aerial lift crossing above a surface lift and more rarely with two aerial lifts crossing at different heights above the ground.

Small ski areas with only a handul of lifts typically follow one of these simple arrangements. Larger ski areas have combinations of these basic patterns, often in a tiered arrangement by elevation. Lifts run from one or more base areas to various midstations, from which other lifts connect to higher terrain. Very large ski areas (with dozens of lifts) may have three or more tiers of lifts between the valley and the highest summits. In such cases, lengthy aerial tramways or gondolas are often used to span across several tiers at once, to allow rapid access to the upper slopes from the base.

References

Information about ski lifts:

• http://www.skilifts.org/ How lifts work, plus specifications and photos of many North American ski lifts
• http://www.lift-world.info Lift-World: Worldwide database of ski lifts, plus information on construction and operation
• http://www.ropeways.net/ News about ski lifts worldwide
• http://skilift.nashacanada.com/ Portable Ski Lift
• http://www.funivie.org/ Italian web site. (also //ropeways.eu)
• http://www.chairlift.org/ Informative website with great pictures of all sorts of lifts

Numerous examples illustrating various types of ski lift networks can be found on the trail maps of most individual ski area websites, see list of ski areas and resorts. Several sites also store ski resort maps for many areas, including:

• http://www.skitown.com/ Alpine ski maps of many North American ski resorts
• http://www.alpineskimaps.com/ Alpine ski maps of many European ski resorts

See also

• List of aerial lift manufacturers
• List of transport topics
• Skiing