Lift Blog

A few weeks ago I ventured to the Alps with a delegation from Leitner-Poma of America. LPOA is the North American arm of High Technology Industries, the holding company behind iconic European ropeway builders Leitner, Poma and Bartholet. While Leitner-Poma of America fabricates upwards of 85 percent of its equipment in Colorado and Utah, the US outpost partners closely with its sister companies back in Europe. The trip included peers from a dozen US and Canadian resorts along with Leitner-Poma employees and partners (full disclosure, LPOA covered the cost of my trip other than airfare.)

Our first stop after arriving in Munich was the Nebelhorn, near the town of Oberstdorf. Leitner constructed a state-of-the-art 2S system here in 2021, replacing several jig-back tramways. A 2S combines the efficiency of a monocable gondola with the stability and long spans of a tram. The Nebelhornbahn features two sections, automated parking and striking Symphony cabins designed by Pininfarina. Oberstdorf Lifts CEO Henrik Volpert took us on a fantastic tour of the gondola’s motor rooms, maintenance bays and parking areas. Not only does Henrik oversee seven ski areas in the region but he also serves as President of the German Ski Areas Association.

At the top of the 2S, we continued onto an older jigback tramway, the first of several on this trip. It was closing day for this resort and locals were still skiing on the upper mountain while we ate lunch.

After lunch we headed to the other side of the valley, where another of Henrik’s mountains had already opened for summer. This family ski area features a mountain coaster, several kid-friendly activities and hiking in the summer season (there’s no real offseason here.) We rode a neat monocable gondola with a 90 degree angle station to mid-mountain. Everything on the lift was top of the line including Leitner’s premium stations, a direct drive and Diamond EVO cabins.

The next day took us through Austria to Italy, where Leitner’s first 3S system operates between the city of Bolzano and the mountain village of Ritten/Renon (towns in this region carry both German and Italian names.) This unique 3S operates in a pulse fashion with cabins coming to complete stops in the stations while the line keeps moving at varying speeds. The 3S serves as public transit for more than a million riders a year and costs just five Euros to ride. The lift spans nearly 15,000 feet with ten 35 passenger cabins. At the top, an electric train carries riders further up the plateau with views of the Dolomites.

A highlight of the trip was seeing Leitner’s factories, the largest of which lies in the company’s hometown of Sterzing. There’s a ski area right in town, of course, but it had closed for the season. Our host here was Anton Seeber, the friendly leader of HTI Group and its many brands. Sterzing is a true production facility with workers and machines cutting and welding raw steel into bullwheels, tire banks and towers. Sterzing also produces casings for direct drives used all over the world. We visited this factory on a Sunday so no one was working but it was cool to see components in varying stages of completion.

The next day we headed back to Austria and a newer factory which specializes in assembly of chairs, grips, hangers and direct drives. The 45,000 square meter Telfs plant opened in 2008 and serves just three customers: Leitner, Poma and Leitner-Poma of America. The various arms of HTI used to produce chairs and grips in different plants but consolidation to Telfs improved efficiency and quality control. In a busy year, LPOA buys 1,000 chairs from Telfs out of 2,600 to 4,000 chairs produced there. Chairs are built in batches for a specific lift. The reason for this is a six place chair, for example, can be ordered in 230 different variations depending on customer preferences. The day we were in the factory a crew was busy assembling chairs for Snowmass’ new Elk Camp six pack, set to open next season. Two Snowmass guys were on the tour and got to sit on their new chair for a photo months before first chair. Bretton Woods’ Bethlehem Express chairs had just been completed and were being readied for their boat ride to New Hampshire.

Every chair begins as a straight piece of tubular steel. An automated bending machine transforms each tube into a chair bail. Another machine cuts holes in the tube and other finishing is completed by hand. The bails are sent out for galvanization before returning for assembly. Other than the bail, the rest of a chair’s parts are sourced from a network of suppliers, many of whom also supply automakers in nearby Germany. A single chair can contain 1,500 parts and workers use high tech torque wrenches linked with software to optimize workflow. A screen shows the assembler exactly where a particular part goes on the chair.

There’s one other chair component Telfs fabricates as opposed to just assembling: bubbles! This factory will produce around 600 bubbles in 2025, all starting as flat sheets of polycarbonate. The process Leitner uses is proprietary but can be summarized as thermo stretch forming. This work is highly specialized and difficult with not every bubble meeting quality standards (around 10 percent are discarded instead of making their way to lifts.) After forming, holes are drilled and a plastic rim is glued on before the bubbles are installed on chairs.

The third section of Telfs we toured was direct drive assembly. This was the first time I got to see the inside of a direct drive as normally they’re not opened once installed. Leitner was the pioneer of direct drive lifts and Telfs completes around 50 to 60 units a year, most of which stay in Europe.

The last stop was the LPA grip assembly line, designed using systems from modern automobile and aircraft factories. HTI formerly built detachable grips in three places but now every grip and hanger come off this one line. Parts are delivered to the line by an automated system but the actual assembly is done mostly by hand. Once a grip is complete, it’s tested and a series of cameras take dozens of photos to detect any anomalies. This also allows Leitner to track each grip and hanger to a specific production run on a specific date by a specific employee. The grip and hanger mechanisms are then shipped together to project sites. Once on site, crews simply connect a chair to a hanger with one bolt. This is fast but also ensures quality and safety with most of the assembly done in a controlled environment rather than a ski area parking lot.

After Telfs we ventured up to Stubai Glacier, home to a spectacular Leitner 3S and numerous other lifts. Although we weren’t skiing, several gondolas and chairlifts still carried skiers at higher elevations. Many towers were pinned to the glacier rather than traditional foundations. On the 3S, carriers can be parked at all three stations, allowing the line to be cleared of cabins automatically in a matter of minutes. Of course each section is driven by a direct drive. This lift is so big that tire sections are run by motors rather than PTO belts. These helper motors are bigger than those powering entire chairlifts in the Midwest.

Our last stop was Innsbruck, home to the Interalpin mountain technology tradeshow. Before the show, we ventured up the Nordkette Cable Car, which Leitner part owns. This ski area is accessible right from downtown Innsbruck via a Leitner funicular railway. The funicular includes a bridge over a river, several tunnels and grades ranging from zero degrees to very steep. At the top of the funicular, we rode a series of jig back tramways to reach a 2,334 meter summit. It was foggy that day so I didn’t take many pictures of the two trams we rode.

This was my second time to Interalpin and I could spend days there. If a company sells technology to ski areas, they come to Interalpin. The Leitner booth featured a ConnX autonomous gondola cabin, several Symphony gondolas and a Leitner premium chair (the new Ropera detachable was unveiled the day after our visit.)

Doppelmayr of course had a large presence including a 3S cabin for an installation opening next winter in the Dolomites, a 10 seater cabin from Paris’ upcoming urban gondola and a Stella cabin for the soon-to-open TRI-Line at Hoch-Ybrig, Switzerland. MND was there too with a cabin from their Orizon detachable line. AI was a major focus of the show with manufacturers highlighting software products to improve maintenance and operations.

I haven’t even mentioned all the delicious food we ate, the good times had in the evenings and many other warm people we encountered. Thank you to Daren Cole, Jon Mauch and everyone at Leitner-Poma for including me on the trip. My advice to anyone interested in lifts who has not been to Europe: Go!