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This is a list of the current and former aerial lift manufacturers. This list includes surface lift manufacturers.
An aerial tramway, aerial tram, sky tram, aerial cablecar, aerial cableway, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip of an aerial tramway cabin is fixed onto the propulsion rope and cannot be decoupled from it during operations. In comparison to gondola lifts, aerial tramways generally provide lower line capacities and higher wait times.
Yan Lift, incorporated as Lift Engineering & Mfg. Co., was a major ski lift manufacturer in North America. Founded in 1965 and based in Carson City, Nevada, the company built at least 200 fixed-grip chairlifts, as well as 31 high-speed quads. The company's lifts have been involved in the deaths of five people and the injury of at least 70, the worst record of any ski-lift maker operating in North America.
A detachable chairlift or high-speed chairlift is a type of passenger aerial lift, which, like a fixed-grip chairlift, consists of numerous chairs attached to a constantly moving wire rope that is strung between two terminals over intermediate towers. They are now commonplace at all but the smallest of ski resorts. Some are installed at tourist attractions as well as for urban transportation.
A funitel is a type of cableway, generally used to transport skiers, although at least one is used to transport finished cars between different areas of a factory. It differs from a standard gondola lift through the use of two arms attached to two parallel overhead cables, providing more stability in high winds. The name funitel is a portmanteau of the French words funiculaire and telepherique.
Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group is an international manufacturer of ropeways and people movers for ski areas, urban transport, amusement parks, and material handling systems. As of 2023, the group had produced over 15,400 installations in 96 countries. Their annual revenue in 2022/2023 was 946 million euros. The Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group was formed in 2002 when Doppelmayr of Wolfurt, Austria merged with Garaventa AG of Switzerland to form the world's largest ropeway manufacturer.
Gimar Montaz Mautino (GMM) is a French manufacturer that was created by the merger of Gimar and Montaz-Mautino. They make aerial lifts and surface ski lifts. They are headquartered in Échirolles France, near Grenoble. Originally known as Montaz-Mautino, they were one of the most successful ski lift companies in the 1970s and 1980s, primarily constructing two and three-seat chairlifts.
An aerial lift, also known as a cable car or ropeway, is a means of cable transport in which cabins, cars, gondolas, or open chairs are hauled above the ground by means of one or more cables. Aerial lift systems are frequently employed in a mountainous territory where roads are relatively difficult to build and use, and have seen extensive use in mining. Aerial lift systems are relatively easy to move and have been used to cross rivers and ravines. In more recent times, the cost-effectiveness and flexibility of aerial lifts have seen an increase of gondola lift being integrated into urban public transport systems.
Doppelmayr USA, Inc is an aerial lift manufacturer based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and a subsidiary of the worldwide Doppelmayr Garaventa Group. The United States company was formed in 2002 after the merger of Garaventa of Goldau, Switzerland, and Doppelmayr of Wolfurt, Austria. Between 2002 and 2010, the company was named Doppelmayr CTEC. From 2011 the company has operated using the Doppelmayr brand name, in common with most other Doppelmayr Garaventa Group subsidiaries.
Giovanola Frères SA was a prominent steel manufacturing company based in Monthey, Switzerland. It was known for building electrical power stations, water storage tanks, pipelines, boilers, highway bridges, submarines, ski lifts and many other steel products. The company started out as a small metal forging shop, founded by Joseph Giovanola in 1888. Joseph Sr. died in 1904, and the company was taken over by his sons, the eldest of which, Joseph Jr., was just 17 years of age. By 1930 the company had grown to the point that it required a new factory which was constructed in Monthey.
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 year. Skiers have settled in the Verbier area in order to take advantage of the steep slopes, varied conditions, and resort culture.
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 movers, and surface lifts. Poma has installed about 7800 devices for 750 customers worldwide.
The tricable gondola lift, also known as the 3S gondola lift, is a cable car system that was developed by the Swiss company Von Roll transport systems in Thun to unite the benefits of a gondola lift with those of a reversible cable car system. '3S' is an abbreviation of the German word dreiseil, meaning 'tricable'.
Schweitzer is a ski resort in the northwest United States in northern Idaho, 11 miles (18 km) northwest of Sandpoint. Located in Bonner County in the Selkirk Mountains, it overlooks Lake Pend Oreille to the southeast with views of the Bitterroot and Cabinet mountain ranges. The ski area is approximately 45 miles (70 km) south of the Canada–US border. Doing business as Schweitzer Mountain Resort since 1988, in April 2021 the ski area adjusted its brand name to drop the words "mountain resort" to now be known only as "Schweitzer."
Leitner-Poma of America, known simply as Leitner-Poma, is a United States aerial lift manufacturer based in Grand Junction, Colorado. It is the American subsidiary of French-based Poma, which is owned by the Italian company HTI Group. The North American company was formed in 2000 when the Seeber Group, owner of Leitner, bought Poma and merged both companies' North American subsidiaries. Leitner-Poma of America operates a Canadian subsidiary based in Barrie, Ontario called Leitner-Poma Canada Inc.
Snow King Mountain is a summer and winter resort in the western United States, in Jackson, Wyoming. The mountain is Jackson's original 1936 ski hill, located on the southeast edge of the city, and was the first ski area in Wyoming. Locals sometimes refer to Snow King as "The Town Hill," and it offers skiing, hiking, an alpine slide, and many other attractions. The ski season runs from December to late March, and has a summer season that runs from June to October. Skiing is offered after the closure of lifts, until the snow is gone thanks to a boot pack trail on the west side of the resorts Runs. Hiking trails are offered all over the mountain.
The Peak 2 Peak Gondola is a tricable gondola lift at Whistler Blackcomb Resort in Whistler, British Columbia, linking Whistler Mountain's Roundhouse Lodge with Blackcomb Mountain's Rendezvous Lodge. It is the first lift to join the two side-by-side mountains. It held the world record for the longest free span between ropeway towers at 3.03 kilometres until 2017 when the Eibsee Cable Car exceeded it by 189 metres. It is still the highest point above the ground in a gondola at 436 metres, although a temporary aerial tramway in Switzerland used between 1979 and 1986 had larger span. The gondola was built by the Doppelmayr Garaventa Group in 2007 and 2008 at a cost of CDN$51 million. The Gondola is the first Doppelmayr "3S" tri-cable lift in North America; there are four similar but smaller lifts in Europe which were built in 1991, 1994, 2002, 2004 and 2010 in Switzerland, Austria, France and Germany. Whistler Blackcomb promotes the gondola as an attraction and uses it to transport skiers in the winter months, as well as sightseers year-round.
A hybrid lift is a type of ski lift that combines the elements of a chairlift and a gondola lift. First introduced by Poma, 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.
Leitner Ropeways is a business that manufactures and distributes products and equipment for ropeways, snow groomers, urban transportation systems, and wind energy in Italy and internationally. The company was founded in 1888 and was recognized in 2003 to be owned by the Leitner Group, later the HTI Group. The company also provides spare parts, repairs and testing.
Le Remontoir is a funicular-like inclined elevator in Le Locle, Switzerland. It links the town's centre with Le Locle railway station located above. With a length of 62 m, it climbs a difference of elevation of 24 m. The lower station is located in Rue de la Côte at a small square named Sidmouth's Square.
Schweizer Seilbahninventar was published in 2011 by the Federal Office of Culture. Of about 3000 cableways in Switzerland, the heritage inventory assesses 67 as of national importance and 44 as of regional importance in terms of the Swiss Federal Act on the nature and cultural heritage. It also includes 18 noteworthy more recent systems. Installations are included for their cultural or technological significance. The inventory covers aerial cableways, funiculars and ski lifts. Classifications applied are those of Swiss authorities. It does not cover inclined elevators, mobile lifts and installations part of residential, military or industrial building complexes.