Tools

Which lifts keep running in wind?

Move the slider to see, for each lift type, the wind at which operators commonly slow and then stop it. These are indicative ranges, not rules.

Lift types in a rising windSchematic row of carriers hanging from one rope: fixed-grip chair, detachable chair, gondola, funitel, 3S cabin and tramway cabin, swinging more or less as the wind rises.
  1. Fixed-grip chair
  2. Detachable chair
  3. Gondola
  4. Funitel
  5. 3S gondola
  6. Aerial tramway

40 km/h: 6 running · 7 no published figure

Result

Method and sources

The ranges come from manufacturer design values and published operator practice. Doppelmayr and the French regulator give about 110 km/h for 3S lines; Doppelmayr about 100 km/h for funitels and about 80 km/h for monocable gondolas. Chair ranges follow gust-based operator practice, which commonly holds chairs from about 55 km/h gusts.

Every installation is different: line direction, terrain, bubbles and cabin weight all change the answer. The operator decides when a lift runs.

We found no published figure for surface lifts, aerial tramways, funiculars or cog railways, so they are shown without a range.

  1. Davos Klosters (destination) · First T-bar lift (storybook) · Checked
  2. DPMA (German Patent and Trade Mark Office) · Inventions that made history: Ski lift with T-bar · Checked
  3. LEITNER AG · Winter sports ropeway systems brochure (EN) · Checked
  4. remontees-mecaniques.net · Les téléskis fixes et à enrouleurs (fonctionnement) · Checked
  5. Verkehrshaus der Schweiz (Swiss Museum of Transport) · Collection item 134883 (Bolgen T-bar) · Checked
  6. POMA · The history of POMA · Checked
  7. POMA · Detachable surface lift (product page) · Checked
  8. remontees-mecaniques.net · Le téléski à perches découplables (fonctionnement) · Checked
  9. STRMTG (French cableway regulator, Ministry of Ecological Transition) · Rapport annuel 2024-2025 (parc au 01/01/2025, annexes 1, 4, 5) · Checked
  10. skiresort.info / skiresort.com · Hemsedal ski lifts · Checked
  11. Doppelmayr/Garaventa · Seat Heating brochure (ENG, 09/2013) · Checked
  12. Mt. Ashland (operator) · Wind Holds & Delays · Checked
  13. Palisades Tahoe (operator blog) · Determining factors that guide operational decisions · Checked
  14. remontees-mecaniques.net · Le télésiège (dossier) · Checked
  15. remontees-mecaniques.net forum (enthusiast/operator posts) · Résistance au vent (forum thread) · Checked
  16. Smithsonian Magazine · How a railroad engineer from Nebraska invented the world's first ski chairlift · Checked
  17. Sugarbush Resort (operator blog) · Blow, blow, thou winter wind · Checked
  18. Union Pacific · Surprising Railroad Inventions: The Ski Lift · Checked
  19. LEITNER AG · Sustainability: products from LEITNER · Checked
  20. Lift-World (lift-world.info) · World's first seat heater for chairlifts (news, 26.12.2004) · Checked
  21. remontees-mecaniques.net · La pince débrayable (dossier) · Checked
  22. remontees-mecaniques.net · Les télésièges débrayables (fonctionnement, page 3) · Checked
  23. SAM Magazine (via search excerpt) · Local warming: first heated chairlift starts operations · Checked
  24. skiresort.info · Ski Arlberg innovations · Checked
  25. Wikipedia (pointer only) · Detachable chairlift · Checked
  26. 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
  27. STRMTG / RiskNat seminar · Séminaire STRMTG 15 May 2025: adaptation au changement climatique (slides) · Checked
  28. SnowStash (news, via search excerpt) · Titlis gondola crash: wind gust cause (April 2026) · Checked
  29. Doppelmayr (via search excerpt) / Wikipedia pointer · Tricable gondola lift (Wikipedia, pointer) and Doppelmayr magazine excerpt on L'Olympique · Checked
  30. Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH · TRI-Line brochure (2023) · Checked
  31. ISR International Ropeway Review · The 3S gondola lift is 25 years old · Checked
  32. LEITNER AG · The world's highest 3S gondola lift (news, 2018) · Checked
  33. Lift-World (lift-world.info) · Alpin Express I, Saas-Fee (lift 2805) · Checked
  34. Lift-World (lift-world.info) · 3S Bahn Kitzbühel (lift 4008) · Checked
  35. Lift-World (lift-world.info) · Peak2Peak Gondola (lift 13214) · Checked
  36. Whistler Blackcomb · PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola · Checked
  37. Doppelmayr/Garaventa · Funitel brochure (FR, 09/2013) · Checked
  38. remontees-mecaniques.net · Les funitels et DMC: fonctionnement (page 1) · Checked
  39. remontees-mecaniques.net · Les funitels et DMC: fonctionnement (page 2) · Checked
  40. remontees-mecaniques.net · TPH200 Vanoise Express (database report) · Checked
  41. SVT Nyheter Jämtland · Folkkär 43-åring: så kom Kabinbanan till / rivningsbeslutet står fast · Checked
  42. Åre Destination (aresweden.com) · Åre Bergbana - 800 meters of history · Checked
  43. CFD · Tignes funicular Perce-Neige (machines) · Checked
  44. funiculaires-france.fr · Tignes funicular · Checked
  45. Länsstyrelsen Jämtlands län · Åre bergbana och Grottan · Checked
  46. Lift-World (lift-world.info) · Funiculaire du Perce-Neige (lift 2649) · Checked
  47. Wikipedia (pointer only) · Gelmer Funicular · Checked
  48. Gornergrat Bahn · History of the Gornergrat Bahn · Checked
  49. Jungfraubahnen · The Jungfrau Railway: a pioneering work · Checked
  50. Pilatus-Bahnen AG · The steepest cogwheel railway in the world · Checked
  51. Wikipedia (pointer only) · Rack railway · Checked