A hybrid lift is a type of
ski lift
A ski lift is a mechanism for transporting skiers up a hill. Ski lifts are typically a paid service at ski resorts. The first ski lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/Eisenbach, Hochschwarzwald.
Types
* Aerial l ...
that combines the elements of a
chairlift
An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. They ...
and a
gondola lift
A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate supp ...
. First introduced by
Poma
Poma, incorporated as Pomagalski S.A., and sometimes referred to as the Poma Group, is a French company which manufactures cable-driven lift systems, including fixed and detachable chairlifts, gondola lifts, funiculars, aerial tramways, people ...
, who refers to them as Telemix, they have since been built by most lift manufacturers who refer to them by a variety of names;
Doppelmayr refers to them as a combined lift, Bartholet refers to them with the French name, téléporté mixte,
while the more generic terms chondola and telecombi are common in North America.
Both chairs and gondolas have advantages for lift operations. Gondolas offer protection from the elements and are particularly useful in rain or very cold conditions. They can also be used during the summer for walk-on guests, cyclists or wheelchairs, and in the winter for snowshoers. In the winter, gondolas require skiers and snowboarders to remove their equipment and walk into the cabin. Chairs are generally more convenient and easier to board for skiers. Some lifts have so-called 'bubble' chairs, which add a retractable
acrylic glass
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, ...
dome to protect passengers from weather.
A hybrid lift allows cabins and chairs to be used on the same lift line, changing the ratio as the rider load, season and weather conditions demand. On most hybrid lifts, during the winter season there are usually more chairs than cabins, for example, the hybrid lift at
Sunday River has 60 chairs and 15 cabins, with four chairs between each cabin. During the summer season, many hybrid lifts will operate with fewer chairs, or with gondola cabins only. Year-round versatility is increasingly important as ski resorts add summertime activities, such as
downhill cycling
Downhill mountain biking (DH) is a style of mountain biking practiced on steep, rough terrain that often features Glossary of cycling#gap jump, jumps, Glossary of cycling#drop, drops, Glossary of cycling#rock garden, rock gardens and other obst ...
and nature hiking trails.
To allow safe loading and unloading, stations have separate areas for the different carrier types. This may resembling a gondola station followed by a chairlift station, or vice versa – the overall length of the boarding area can be reduced by folding the station so that the gondolas are loaded on the "downhill" side of the ends of the lift, and the chairs on the uphill side. In some stations the cabins may use a separate contour.
Installations around the world
Australia
Australia has two ski lifts that mix gondolas and chairs. Northside Express (formerly named Horse Hill) built in 1986 at
Mount Buller
Mount Buller is primarily a resort town on the slopes of Mount Buller in the Shire of Mansfield of the Australian state of Victoria. It is located approximately northeast of Melbourne. It is popular with snowsports enthusiasts in winter due t ...
in the state of Victoria was the first Doppelmayr hybrid lift in the world. It has 106 chairs and 20 gondolas. The second to be built in Australia was the 1860-metre-long Crackenback (since renamed Kosciusko Express), built in 1990 at
Thredbo
Thredbo is a village and ski resort in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, situated in a part of the Snowy Monaro Regional Council, and has been operated by Event Hospitality and Entertainment since 1987.
It is approximately s ...
ski resort in New South Wales. It was also built by Doppelmayr.
Europe
In
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, the "Sun Jet" was finished in 2008 on the mountain of
Hochwurzen
Hochwurzen is a ski area located in Austria. It is part of the Schladminger 4-Berge-Schaukel
The Schladminger 4-Berge-Schaukel is the name of four interconnected ski mountains in Austria. It has a total of 167 kilometres of pistes and 81 lift ...
,
Schladming
Schladming is a small former mining town in the northwest of the Austrian state of Styria that is now a popular tourist destination. It has become a large winter-sports resort and has held various skiing competitions, including most notably the F ...
. In 2010 the "Kombibahn Penken" in
Mayrhofen
Mayrhofen is a town in the Zillertal (Ziller river valley) in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is located approximately an hour from the Tyrolean capital city of Innsbruck.
Population
Tourism
The town offers a variety of summer and winter sports ...
, Austria was built. This was the first hybrid lift with separated loading areas for chairs and gondolas. The "Weibermahdbahn" in
Lech
Lech may refer to:
People
* Lech (name), a name of Polish origin
* Lech, the legendary founder of Poland
* Lech (Bohemian prince)
Products and organizations
* Lech (beer), Polish beer produced by Kompania Piwowarska, in Poznań
* Lech Poznań, ...
in
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is ...
was built in 2011 by Doppelmayr for the
Ski Arlberg
The Ski Arlberg ski area is situated in the Arlberg massif in the states of Vorarlberg and Tyrol (Austria).
Since the winter of 2013–14, the villages of Lech, Oberlech, Zürs and Zug have been linked to the Warth- Schröcken ski area which ma ...
ski resort. It alternates between 8-person chairlifts and 10-person gondolas. In 2013 the "Auenfeldjet", a gondola lift for 10 persons, was linked to it.
In France, Poma has installed at least ten hybrid lifts, and Doppelmayr three. One is the "Mont Rond", which consists of one eight-passenger gondola cabin, and three six-passenger chairs. "Le Grand Cerf" in
Les 7 Laux
Les Sept Laux is a group of three winter sports resorts of the Alps located in the Belledonne (Isère) about from Grenoble and from Chambery on common Theys, Les Adrets and La Ferrière.
Les Sept Laux has two stations side valley of the Isà ...
, France consists of a six-passenger chair and an eight-passenger gondola.
In Greece, the Ski Center of "Parnassos" has two hybrid ski lifts which combine eight-seater cabins and six-seater chairs. Aphrodite–Bacchus was built in 2014 and its total length is 2250 m. Hermes–Iniochos was built in 2015 in order to link two resorts together Kellaria and Fterolaka. Its total length is 2010 m.
In Italy, the Telemix "Puflatsch" at the
Seiser Alm was built in 2009.
In Norway, the ski mountain Strandafjellet installed a Leitner Telemix lift in the summer of 2010. The lift has 3 six-passenger chairs followed by one eight-passenger gondola. The lift opened on February 12. 2011, and is the biggest chairlift in Scandinavia. The lift is 2100 metres long, has a 618 metres height difference and a capacity of 2400 people per hour per direction.
In Slovakia, a Telemix at the Donovaly ski resort was installed by Poma in 2005. It has 60 chairs and 10 cabins.
Sweden's first hybrid lift was installed in
Ã…re ski resort
Åre (pronounced like 'Aura') is a ski resort in Jämtland, Sweden, founded in 1909 and owned by SkiStar AB.
Åre, short for Årefjällen (''Åre Mountains''), is located in Åre Municipality, just outside and above the village of Åre, appro ...
in
Ã…re
Åre () is a locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpen. 25% of the local eco ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. The new hybrid lift is named 'VM 8:an' and replaces the former four-passenger chair lift 'Olympialiften'. The lift was installed by Leitner in 2006 and consists of 16 eight-passenger gondola cabins, and 68 eight-passenger chairs.
In
Verbier
Verbier is a village located in south-western Switzerland in the canton of Valais. It is a holiday resort and ski area in the Swiss Alps and is recognised as one of the premier off-piste resorts in the world. Some areas are covered with snow all ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, lift manufacturer Leitner Ropeways installed a hybrid lift, "La Chaux Express", in 2005. The 60 cabins, manufactured by CWA, each hold 8 passengers whilst the 20 chairlifts can each hold up to 6. The result is a maximum capacity of 1950 to 2400 persons per hour. The lift also has multiple stations; the valley station at 2200 m, and the middle at 2484 m which angles the route of the lift, allowing the second lower station at 2260 m. The middle station is most commonly disembarked during the ski season as it lies in the "middle" of the slopes. This provides a connection for skiers not willing to ascend entirely, for instance, to the Col des Gentianes (2950 m).
North America
The Hybrid (french: l'hybride), at
Mont Orford
Mount Orford (french: Mont Orford) is a mountain and ski resort located in the Mont-Orford National Park in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec, Canada. It is northwest of the centre of the city of Magog.
History
In 2006, the provincial gov ...
in
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, Canada, is a 6-passenger chair/8-seater gondola cabin that replaced a double-chair in 2008.
In the United States, a chondola was opened at
Sunday River Resort in 2008, combining a high speed six pack with eight passenger gondola cabins, with gondola cabins every four chairs.
About.com Snowboarding
/ref>
Chondolas also exist in the Tahoe Zephyr at Northstar Resort in Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevad ...
(hybrid between a high-speed six-chair and a high-speed eight-person gondola). Three chondolas operate within Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
, including the Chondola at Telluride Ski Resort
Telluride Ski Resort is a ski resort located in Mountain Village, Colorado.
The Telluride Ski Resort is located in the southwest corner of Colorado. The resort is in the northwestern San Juan Mountains, part of the Rocky Mountains, and is home ...
(hybrid between a high-speed quad and a four-person gondola), the Centennial Express at Beaver Creek Resort
Beaver Creek Resort is a major ski resort in the western United States, near Avon, Colorado. The resort comprises three villages, the main Beaver Creek Village, Bachelor Gulch, and Arrowhead to the west. The resort is owned and operated by ...
(high speed six pack, with ten-passenger gondola cabins after every five chairs) and the American Eagle lift at Copper Mountain Resort (high speed six pack, with eight passenger gondola cabins every four chairs). The Arizona Snowbowl
Arizona Snowbowl is an alpine ski resort in the southwest United States, located on the San Francisco Peaks of northern Arizona, north of Flagstaff. The Snowbowl ski area covers approximately one percent of the San Francisco Peaks, and its slo ...
in Flagstaff is the most recent US resort to add a Chondola, as it was completed in late 2020 and is aptly named the Arizona Gondola (hybrid between a high-speed six-person chair and 8-person gondola after every 2 chairs). In the summer, the Arizona Gondola is fully flexible, and allows for varying combinations of gondola cabins and chairs.
Also in the United States are several lifts that can be converted as needed into gondola operations, For example, the Big Mountain Express at Whitefish Mountain Resort
Whitefish Mountain Resort is a ski resort in the western United States, located at Big Mountain in northwestern Montana. It is west of Glacier National Park in the Flathead National Forest, from the town of Whitefish, west of Columbia Fa ...
in Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
is a high speed quad that runs with all chairs in the winter but runs with chairs and cabins during the summer. Wildcat ski area in New Hampshire converts their quad chair to a gondola during the summer months.
References
External links
Poma - Telemix
Doppelmayr Combined Installations
Chondola.com
See also
* Ski lift
A ski lift is a mechanism for transporting skiers up a hill. Ski lifts are typically a paid service at ski resorts. The first ski lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/Eisenbach, Hochschwarzwald.
Types
* Aerial l ...
s
* List of aerial lift manufacturers
This is a list of the current and former aerial lift manufacturers. This list includes surface lift manufacturers.
Current
*Aarconinfra Ropeways & Future Mobility Pvt Ltd , India {{cite web , title=Aaarconinfra Ropeways , url=https://aarconin ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hybrid Lift
Vertical transport devices
Aerial lifts
Ski lift types