Hybrid lift

The "Panorama Bahn" hybrid lift in Turracher Höhe, Austria. Chairs load from the station on the left of this image, gondolas along the carpeted area to the right.

The top of Doppelmayr's "Le Grand Cerf" at Les Sept Laux, outside of Grenoble, France. Chairs exit to the right, gondolas on the left.

The mid-slope, angled station of La Chaux Express (Verbier, Switzerland) showing the versatility of the hybrid lift type.

A hybrid lift is a new 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 copied by most lift manufacturers who refer to them by a variety of names; Doppelmayr refers to them as combined installations, while the more generic terms chondola and telecombi are also common.

Both chairs and gondolas have advantages for lift operations. Gondolas are heavier and have lower wind tolerance, but offer protection from the elements and are particularly useful in rain or very cold conditions. They can also be used during the summer for walk-on guests, cyclists or wheelchairs, and in the winter for snowshoers. In the winter, gondolas require skiers and snowboarders to remove their equipment and walk into the cabin, which can slow the speed of operation at the ends of the lift. Chairs are lighter and can be operated in higher winds, while also generally being more comfortable and easier to board for skiers.

A hybrid lift allows cabins and chairs to be used on the same lift line, changing them as the rider load, season and weather conditions demand. To allow safe loading and unloading, stations have separate areas for the different carrier types, resembling a gondola station followed by a chairlift station, or vice versa. The overall length of the boarding area can be reduced by folding the station so that the gondolas are loaded on the "downhill" side of the ends of the lift, and the chairs on the uphill side. On most hybrid lifts, there will usually be more chairs than cabins, e.g., Sunday River (Maine)'s Chondola has 60 chairs and 15 cabins, with four chairs in between each cabin.

Hybrid lifts offer year-round versatility, increasingly important as ski resorts add summertime activities like downhill cycling and nature hiking trails.

Installations around the world

Canada

The Hybrid, ("l'hybride in French) at Mont Orford in Quebec is a 6 passenger chair/8-seater gondola cabin that replaced a double-chair in 2008.

Sweden

Sweden's first hybrid lift was installed in Åre ski resort in Åre, Sweden. The new hybrid lift is named 'VM 8:an' and replaces the former four-passenger chair lift 'Olympialiften'. The lift was installed by Leitner in 2006 and consists of 16 eight-passenger gondola cabins, and 68 eight-passenger chairs.

France

In France, Poma has installed at least ten hybrid lifts, and Doppelmayr three. One is the "Mont Rond", which consists of one eight-passenger gondola cabin, and three six-passenger chairs. "Le Grand Cerf" in Les 7 Laux, France consists of a six-passenger chair and an eight-passenger gondola.

Switzerland

In Verbier, Switzerland, lift manufacturer Leitner Ropeways installed a hybrid lift, "La Chaux Express", in 2005. The 60 cabins, manufactured by CWA, each hold 8 passengers whilst the 20 chairlifts can each hold up to 6. The result is a maximum capacity of 1950 to 2400 persons per hour.^[1] The lift also has multiple stations; the valley station at 2200 m, and the middle at 2484 m which angles the route of the lift, allowing the second lower station at 2260 m.^[2] The middle station is most commonly disembarked during the ski season as it lies in the "middle" of the slopes. This provides a connection for skiers not willing to ascend entirely, for instance, to the Col des Gentianes (2950 m).

United States

Most recently, the Sunday River Resort has built one of these lifts, dubbing it the chondola. This particular lift consists of four six-passenger chairs, followed by one eight-passenger gondola cabin, four more chairs, another cabin, and so on.^[3]^[4]

Chondolas also exist at Northstar Resort in Lake Tahoe (hybrid between a high-speed six-chair and a high-speed eight-person gondola) and at Telluride Ski Resort in Colorado (hybrid between a high-speed quad chair and a four-person gondola).

Also in the United States are several lifts that can be converted as needed into gondola operations, e.g., Winter Park Resort in Colorado has a high-speed quad that can run gondola cabins at night. The main lift at Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana runs with all chairs in the winter but runs with chairs and cabins during the summer. Wildcat ski area in New Hampshire converts their quad chair to a gondola during the summer months.

Beaver Creek Resort recently installed a high-speed combination lift to be ready for the 2014/15 ski season.

Austria

The "Sun Jet" was finished in 2008 on the mountain of Hochwurzen, Schladming.^[5]
In 2010 the "Kombibahn Penken" in Mayrhofen, Austria was built. This Ropeway was the first with a separated Entrance for Chairs and Gondolas
The "Weibermahdbahn" in Lech, Austria was built in 2011 and in 2013 the "Auenfeldjet", a Gondola for 10 persons, was linked to it.

Australia

Australia has two ski lifts that mix gondolas and chairs. The Northside Express at Mount Buller in the state of Victoria was the first, built in 1986. It has 106 chairs and 20 gondolas. The second was the 1860 metre long Crackenback (since renamed Kosciusko Express), built in 1990 at Thredbo ski resort in New South Wales. Both the hybrid ski lifts in Australia are Doppelmayrs.

Slovakia

A Telemix at the Donovaly ski resort was installed by Poma in 2005. It has 60 chairs and 10 cabins.

Norway

The ski mountain Strandafjellet installed a Leitner Telemix lift in the summer of 2010. The lift has 3 six-passenger chairs followed by one eight-passenger gondola. The lift opened on February 12. 2011, and is the biggest chairlift in Scandinavia. The lift is 2100 metres long, has a 618 metres height difference and a capacity of 2400 pph.

Italy

The Telemix "Puflatsch" at the Seiser Alm was built in 2009

Greece

The Ski Center of "Parnassos" has two hybrid ski lifts which combine eight-seater Cabin and six-seater chair.

Aphrodite - Bacchus : Build on 2014 and its total length is 2250m
Hermes - Iniochos : Build on 2015 in order to link two resorts together Kellaria and Fterolaka. Its total length is 2010m

Gallery

The Chondola at Sunday River (USA)
VM 8:an in Åre (Sweden)
Telecomb Du Mont-Rond (France)
Le Hybrid, Mont Orford (Canada)
The top of Poma's "Télémix de l'Etale" at La Clusaz, in the French Alps. The garage for the dozen gondolas is visible on the left, under the "Telemix" label.