Tools
How big is each lift?
Every carrier at one scale, next to a 1.8 m person, with how many people it carries and how many the lift moves per hour.
- 1T-bar
- 2Button
- 3Fixed chair
- 4Detachable chair
- 5Gondola
- 63S
- 7Funitel
- 8Tramway
- 9Funicular car
- 101.8 m
Result
- T-bar1–2 people · 700–1,400 people/hour
- Button lift1 person · 500–900 people/hour
- Rope tow1 person · No published figure
- Magic carpet1 person · No published figure
- Fixed-grip chairlift1–6 people · 800–2,400 people/hour
- Detachable chairlift4–8 people · 2,400–4,800 people/hour
- Gondola4–10 people · 2,000–4,500 people/hour
- 3S gondola28–38 people · 1,500–6,000 people/hour
- Funitel20–33 people · 3,000–4,000 people/hour
- Aerial tramway6–200 people · 500–2,000 people/hour
- Chair-gondola combo4–10 people · 2,400–3,900 people/hour
- Funicular100–400 people · 1,000–8,000 people/hour
- Cog railwayNo published figure · No published figure
Method and sources
Drawn to one scale from typical dimensions. Most are estimates for illustration; the funicular car length, 26.1 m, is a published figure.
Capacities are typical ranges from manufacturers. Individual lifts differ.
- Davos Klosters (destination) · First T-bar lift (storybook) · Checked
- DPMA (German Patent and Trade Mark Office) · Inventions that made history: Ski lift with T-bar · Checked
- LEITNER AG · Winter sports ropeway systems brochure (EN) · Checked
- remontees-mecaniques.net · Les téléskis fixes et à enrouleurs (fonctionnement) (French) · Checked
- Verkehrshaus der Schweiz (Swiss Museum of Transport) · Collection item 134883 (Bolgen T-bar) · Checked
- POMA · The history of POMA · Checked
- POMA · Detachable surface lift (product page) · Checked
- remontees-mecaniques.net · Le téléski à perches découplables (fonctionnement) (French) · Checked
- STRMTG (French cableway regulator, Ministry of Ecological Transition) · Rapport annuel 2024-2025 (parc au 01/01/2025, annexes 1, 4, 5) (French) · Checked
- skiresort.info / skiresort.com · Hemsedal ski lifts · Checked
- Doppelmayr/Garaventa · Seat Heating brochure (ENG, 09/2013) · Checked
- Mt. Ashland (operator) · Wind Holds & Delays · Checked
- Palisades Tahoe (operator blog) · Determining factors that guide operational decisions · Checked
- remontees-mecaniques.net · Le télésiège (dossier) (French) · Checked
- remontees-mecaniques.net forum (enthusiast/operator posts) · Résistance au vent (forum thread) (French) · Checked
- Smithsonian Magazine · How a railroad engineer from Nebraska invented the world's first ski chairlift · Checked
- Sugarbush Resort (operator blog) · Blow, blow, thou winter wind · Checked
- Union Pacific · Surprising Railroad Inventions: The Ski Lift · Checked
- LEITNER AG · Sustainability: products from LEITNER · Checked
- Lift-World (lift-world.info) · World's first seat heater for chairlifts (news, 26.12.2004) · Checked
- remontees-mecaniques.net · La pince débrayable (dossier) (French) · Checked
- remontees-mecaniques.net · Les télésièges débrayables (fonctionnement, page 3) (French) · Checked
- SAM Magazine (via search excerpt) · Local warming: first heated chairlift starts operations · Checked
- skiresort.info · Ski Arlberg innovations · Checked
- Wikipedia (pointer only) · Detachable chairlift · Checked
- Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH · UP customer magazine, Interalpin 2023 edition: System Overview (D-Line 10-MGD, D-Line 20-MGD, TRI-Line 20-TGD, 3S 32-TGD) · Checked
- STRMTG / RiskNat seminar · Séminaire STRMTG 15 May 2025: adaptation au changement climatique (slides) (French) · Checked
- SnowStash (news, via search excerpt) · Titlis gondola crash: wind gust cause (April 2026) · Checked
- Doppelmayr (via search excerpt) / Wikipedia pointer · Tricable gondola lift (Wikipedia, pointer) and Doppelmayr magazine excerpt on L'Olympique · Checked
- Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH · TRI-Line brochure (2023) · Checked
- ISR International Ropeway Review · The 3S gondola lift is 25 years old · Checked
- LEITNER AG · The world's highest 3S gondola lift (news, 2018) · Checked
- Lift-World (lift-world.info) · Alpin Express I, Saas-Fee (lift 2805) · Checked
- Lift-World (lift-world.info) · 3S Bahn Kitzbühel (lift 4008) · Checked
- Lift-World (lift-world.info) · Peak2Peak Gondola (lift 13214) · Checked
- Whistler Blackcomb · PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola · Checked
- Doppelmayr/Garaventa · Funitel brochure (FR, 09/2013) · Checked
- remontees-mecaniques.net · Les funitels et DMC: fonctionnement (page 1) (French) · Checked
- remontees-mecaniques.net · Les funitels et DMC: fonctionnement (page 2) (French) · Checked
- remontees-mecaniques.net · TPH200 Vanoise Express (database report) · Checked
- SVT Nyheter Jämtland · Folkkär 43-åring: så kom Kabinbanan till / rivningsbeslutet står fast (Swedish) · Checked
- Åre Destination (aresweden.com) · Åre Bergbana - 800 meters of history · Checked
- CFD · Tignes funicular Perce-Neige (machines) · Checked
- funiculaires-france.fr · Tignes funicular · Checked
- Länsstyrelsen Jämtlands län · Åre bergbana och Grottan (Swedish) · Checked
- Lift-World (lift-world.info) · Funiculaire du Perce-Neige (lift 2649) (French) · Checked
- Wikipedia (pointer only) · Gelmer Funicular · Checked
- Gornergrat Bahn · History of the Gornergrat Bahn · Checked
- Jungfraubahnen · The Jungfrau Railway: a pioneering work · Checked
- Pilatus-Bahnen AG · The steepest cogwheel railway in the world · Checked
- Wikipedia (pointer only) · Rack railway · Checked