A bit of history
Everyone knows them, the little chairs that take you from A to B faster than you can walk. Besides transport on and off a mountain, chairlifts are also often used in theme parks, for example. In many mountain areas, many chairlifts were initially built because a chairlift is cheaper than a large cable car. Nowadays, actually only new chairlifts are built in ski resorts, to go from the bottom of the piste back up again. In most cases, transport to the top is by gondola or pendulum cable car.
Chair lifts then and now
The first chair lifts were little more than chairs linked to a steel bar. There was definitely no question of any seat comfort. The seats were initially made of wooden slats. Later, the wood was swapped for fibreglass plastic. It was often possible to fold up the seats so that they were not snowed under when empty. There was no support for your feet, which simply dangled above the ground. In a later phase, footrests were often linked to the safety bar. This safety bar prevented you from tipping forward out of the seat. It is actually quite logical that every seat has such a bar, but this was also different in the past. Particularly in the United States, they did not take safety very seriously and chairlifts often did not have safety bars.
Chair lifts always fall under circular cable cars, as they turn in circles, up and then down again. Previously, only chairlifts with fixed clamps were made, but today most chairlifts are equipped with a linkable clamp. This allows several people to be transported at the same time and allows the lift to run faster.
Read more about fixed clamps and linkable clamps
Fast chairlifts
Where chairlifts could not make much speed thanks to fixed clamps, these days they are going faster and faster. The aim is not to enjoy a ride to the top of the mountain, but to get back on the slopes as quickly as possible. The 8-seater chairlift, Jochbahn in SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser in Brixental, can reach a speed of 21.6 km per hour. The 8-seater chairlift Silvrettabahn in Montafon, Vorarlberg, achieves a speed of 19.8 km per hour. This makes this chairlift twice as fast as its predecessor.
If you want to try out a great chairlift, how about the Kaiserlift in Kufstein? Highly recommended.
