If the last week and a half was quiet on the blog, it’s because I was skiing my way around Austria, Germany and Switzerland with a few lift factory visits along the way. The last stop on my journey was Interalpin, the world’s largest trade show for mountain technology which takes place in Innsbruck every two years. Thanks to Covid, this was the first Interalpin in four years with an estimated 35,000 people attending.
Doppelmayr
Doppelmayr made a splash the first day with the introduction of a new logo, the company’s first brand refresh in decades. For the first time Doppelmayr Group companies like CWA, Carvatech, Garaventa, Gassner and Frey all have logos matching the parent company’s identity. The new brand will be introduced to international subsidiaries over time.
Doppelmayr’s sprawling two story booth featured numerous cabins, chairs, grips and carriages from an 8 seat Carvatech gondola all the way up to a 32 passenger CWA Atria.
A 20 passenger cabin called Stella debuted for the first time. This cabin will be available for both Tri-Line 3S and 20 passenger monocable gondolas. Stella fills the gap between the ubiquitous Omega and much larger Atria model, which has only been used to two lifts to date. Future 20 passenger monocable gondolas will utilize a new D9000 carriage, which is built around two side by side D5000 grips.
Introduced last year, Tri-Line is a streamlined version of the 3S gondola with smaller stations requiring less concrete. The first Tri-Line is under development at Hoch-Ybrig, Switzerland. Both Tri-Line and 20-MGD are based off standard D-Line stations and can achieve up to 8,000 passengers per hour with Stella cabins that fit closely together and can open on two sides. On the three rope Tri-Line, Stella cabins will be capable of spanning longer distances between towers than monocable gondolas with high wind stability.
Doppelmayr also showcased a simplified surface lift product family called S-Line.
Doppelmayr had a full size mockup of an Auro autonomous gondola station which can be monitored remotely from a ropeway operations center. A chairlift version is also undergoing testing on two lifts in the region using artificial intelligence to monitor unloading. In both cases, large detachable lifts could be operated by just one person.
Also on the software front, Doppelmayr’s resort management software clair now integrates with other mountain technology providers such as Fatzer, Skidata and TechnoAlpin.
HTI Group
HTI group hosted another large booth shared between Prinoth, Leitner, Poma and DemacLenko. For the first time Bartholet was also part of the HTI area. With three different lift brands now under one umbrella, HTI showed off multiple Diamond cabins, a premium chair, Symphony gondolas and Bartholet chairs/cabins.
I got to experience both Leitner’s 2S and 3S gondolas in the surrounding mountains and was very impressed with their smooth ride and quality. The newest 2S design utilizes plastic carriage rollers and can span long distances between towers more economically than a 3S.
Bikes were a big focus with both chair and gondola loading solutions on display. The European industry has embraced vertical racks so passengers can ride on the same chairs as bikes without having to skip chairs with trays.
HTI is also getting into the software game with a resort management program called Skadii including digital logbooks to manage documentation.
Energy efficiency is a huge focus in Europe and HTI also showed off its Ecodrive program, which uses cameras to analyze lift queues and automatically adjust lift speed to save energy.
MND
MND Ropeways had a Waterville Valley style six place chair along with a gondola cabin on display. The company continues to push the benefits of providing lifts, snowmaking, avalanche control systems and summer attractions all from one supplier.
Lift Blog 
hello, good to be back at Interalpin Peter, Do you know if because you were skiing in europe, will this blog get a euro lift database?
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Those 20 person cabins that Doppelmayr showcased are pretty slick considering they can run on a mono cable gondola. If they were to be used in the US or Canada I could see them being used on lift lines with a lot of wind like Panorama at Mammoth or high capacity lines like the Whistler Village gondola. As for other applications it could be used at a place where out of base capacity could massively be improved such as PC, Vail, Keystone, Grouse mtn, etc
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Or Northstar. I skied there a few weeks ago and it was a half hour wait to board the out-of-base gondola. Inexcusable.
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Anyone know of any removed POMA omegas?
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Do you schlep your skis and boots to europe or do you rent everything? I’ve skied in the Alps a couple of times and while it’s a lot of fun it’s a logistical headache dealing with gear. I’ve yet to find a good solution.
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@El Chapo- I’ve always taken my boots and rented quality skis. Hard to get a good boot fit but performance skis are readily available.
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It’s really no different than bringing skis and boots to a domestic destination, which I did every week for the past 20 weeks :)
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If you fly Swiss Air and check a bag, additional ski equipment is included at no extra charge. This means you can check a regular suitcase, and then bring a big, wheeled ski bag filled with skis, boots, poles and ski clothing, all for no additional cost. While it’s annoying to schlep around a ski bag, it certainly saves you some $$. In our case it made more sense to spend a little more on the Swiss Air airfare for this perk, as opposed to going with a budget airline.
Like Peter said below, it’s no more of a hassle than flying with skis domestically, and in this case it’s actually a bit cheaper.
https://www.swiss.com/br/en/customer-support/faq/sports-equipment
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I want to be copied on continued lift technology. They could be used in cities, not just mountains. I am interested opportunities in this field.
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It is mentioned MND exhibited a gondola cabin, to my knowledge, MND does not make gondola cabins, has this changed?
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Currently they offer the same chairs and cabins as Bartholet until the Bartholet-MND partnership agreement expires. I assume it won’t be renewed.
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So those are MND-made Gangloff-designed cabins and chairs (or are they also made by Gangloff)?
Also, do we know when does the agreement expire? And when it does, what would be MND’s options? Since from my understanding they had trouble developing their own detachable line, and Bartholet-designed lifts were mainly what they were constructing.
Upon further reading it is, of course, hard to say that they are out of options. LST apparently constructed a detachable gondola in 2005, and there are unused existing detachable designs out there. It is additionally intriguing how MND and Bartholet established and strengthened their coöperation only recently, in 2018 and 2020 respectively.
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I’m not 100% sure MND makes these Cabins in house, but I’ve seen these odd looking circular cabins on numerous lifts in their promotional materials that are designed by Porsche. They seem to be exclusive to the MND Group https://mnd.com/ru/references/vaujany/
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They don’t, those cabins are a Bartholet product. Reading posts on the show in the Remontees-Mecaniques forum it is noted that the Bartholet MND partnership will not be renewed.
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Sorry that was my bad, I didn’t reload the page and comments from last night, and didnt realize or see Peter correctly answered the question until after I commented
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Those new D-Line stations look very sleek, I hope after Big Sky installs their new Doppelmayr equipment with the squared off/glass box terminal design that more NA resorts choose this visual option. I imagine it’s more expensive than the standard skin but oh man does it ever pop! Here’s hoping that I’ll one day be able to take a D-Line to work…
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The D-line is not just a different terminal skin, it’s a different terminal as a whole and designed to work with different grips.
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D-Lines have at least two skins available, it seems that Big Sky is opting for the glass box as opposed to the regular D-Line standard skin. The glass box alternative terminal design was one of the features promoted in Doppelmayr’s 2018 announcement of D Line.
The glass box design seems to be a popular design within the company, as the new stations shown in the videos Peter linked bear a striking resemblance to this design, although it is true that not many lifts are installed with this skin worldwide, Big Sky will have a North American first. This was also the design chosen for Doppelmayr’s temporary yet centerpiece gondola installation at the 2022 Floriade Expo near Amsterdam, though the Boyne renders depict a twice as wide screen on the side.
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I misunderstood you. I thought you were referring to the D-line as a different skin than the Uni-G. I didn’t know there were two options *within* the D-line.
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Doppelmayr actually offers 3 different variations of the D-Line terminal, with the third, known as R3, being in a pancake style. Looks pretty slick in my opinion https://moja-design.de/en/project-stationsverkleidung-r3/
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@pbropetech
No worries, I get where you’re coming from though, since they chose to make the standard D Line skin closely resemble a UNI-G with a front and back wall. I’d be interested to know what your visual preference is between the different models, I know the internals are more your style but it’s always fun to discuss with those who are coming at this from a completely different angle.
@ty
Wow I had no idea! I don’t think this has been installed on anything yet, but the new renders in the post above seem to combine the R3 aesthetic with the glass box design. Note the windows in the renders are much smaller panes than those on glass box terminals. The pictures from the website you sent suggest R3 only exists at Doppelmayr testing grounds, I wonder if they are not offering this skin on their lifts yet? It reminds me (in a good way) of Yan’s original detachable terminal designs, but if they were to design them with modern materials.
I really wish I knew the name of the “glass box” so I can stop calling it that. Does anybody know the product name? Maybe R2? R1 being the standard skin? I plundered that architecture/design firm’s website ty linked as it appears Doppelmayr has been using them for several design challenges recently but could not find another named skin at all.
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@icefaceNY, could’nt agree more with you that the R3 design looks like Yan detach terminals in a good way! The glass box terminal is called R2 officially, and the D-Line terminals built so far in the US like Ramcharger 8 are called the R1. Also there has been at least one example of the R3 terminal built so far, in Austria. As you can see in the link below, its hard to see since its within a building, but it is sold by Doppelmayr and not just a prototype. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpiW6-o7m2A&ab_channel=Zw%C3%B6lferhornSeilbahn
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@ICEFACENY You can see it in the video at 0:07
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Iceface- I actually like the (now discontinued) UNI-GS for aesthetics. The -G has become so ubiquitous (they’ve produced it for over two decades) that it sorta blends in to the background anymore. I’ve toured a new D-line and will be using is as a classroom for a few days; I find it to look pretty modern but super big (which means the stuff I’m normally concerned about, as you’ve noted, is very easy to inspect and maintain).
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Manufacturers introducing innovations at Interalpin is great news for the skiing and winter sports industry. This demonstrates that the industry is constantly evolving and improving, which can lead to better experiences for skiers and snowboarders. By showcasing their latest technologies and products, manufacturers can also help to drive interest and excitement among consumers. It’s always exciting to see what new developments are being made in the industry, and events like Interalpin provide a great platform for manufacturers to share their latest innovations with the world.
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