Staying Grounded

Surface lifts are the great-grandparents in the business of getting people up hill by mechanical means in winter. The first rope tow in the world was put into use in Germany in 1908. In 1934, the first rope tow in the United States was installed in Woodstock, Vt., transforming uphill transportation for skiers. Early iterations used car or tractor engines rigged to a long rope and a few pulleys. Maintenance was pretty straightforward—if you knew how to change the oil in your car, adjust the carburetor, and splice a rope, you could keep the tow humming and skiers moving.

Although handle tows and the venerable rope tow are still in play, almost 90 years later, conveyor lifts now are the most common surface lifts in use in North America. The applications for conveyor lifts are clear: getting beginners unfamiliar with boarding a chairlift up a learning slope, moving small kids around, as uphill transportation for a tubing hill, and moving people on relatively flat ground from one part of a resort to another. They are easy for resort guests to use and relatively easy for maintenance crews to take care of, given that they involve basic components: an electrical VFD drive, a conveyor belt, gearmotor, and rollers.