Jump to content


The State of Lift Websites 2021


10 replies to this topic

#1 Conrad

    Established User

  • Member
  • 167 Posts:
  • Interests:Skiing, Hockey

Posted 24 June 2021 - 05:51 PM

An overview of websites about ski lifts and aerial ropeways in 2021. I am by no means an authoritative source, but am familiar to varying degrees with some.

Skilifts.org
Has a sizable photograph collection of lifts, mostly from the United States. Had its heyday in the first decade of the 2000's. While the website is dormant, it transitioned to the niche of the forum and industry (SORT) as other resources with pictures expanded.

Liftblog
By far the most comprehensive collection of lift photos from the United States and probably soon Canada as well. Run by Peter Landsman with lots of engagement from the community. Most of us are probably pretty familiar. Wonderful all around resource that only seems to get better and better.

Remontees-Mecaniques.net
French non-profit website with a database of 7,640 detailed lift photo-documentaries or reports from 65 countries. Very active community and 600 new reports were produced in 2020 alone by 38 authors with 8 authors contributing at least 25 reports. The true database is very intuitive with the ability to sort by year built, manufacturer, lift type, and a number of other fields that each report has. 167 manufacturers are present. The top 6 countries for reports are France 2,523; United States 914; Austria 836; Switzerland 726; Italy 454; Canada 374. Probably the best source for Asian and South American lifts as well as tourist and urban lifts. It can be difficult for new people to contribute given the learning curve of producing a good report as well as the time required, but I am happy to help anyone! They are happy to translate to French so no knowledge of French is required. This has been my home since 2012 and I've picked up the basics of the language, but that's it.

Lift-World
German website that has been natively translated into English and four other languages. I'd say this is the most comparable website to Skilifts.org. A little bit like Wikipedia because anyone can contribute photos and edit the database, but everything gets reviewed. It has a true database that as of now includes 20,717 lifts around the world which is more than any other site. A large majority of them don't have pictures but many do. Engagement has perhaps been waning a bit, but experienced in uptick during the pandemic and the site is very much alive. Database and interface is a bit clunky, but they have a volunteer developer who very gradually makes improvements and some big plans are in the works. For my own experience, I have been making a variety of contributions over the past month that typically go live within a day or two. For lifts already in the database, it is possible to add photos right away. For lifts not in the database, it is possible to add places, ski resorts, and ski lifts combined in one big swoop, but then you have to wait for them to be approved before adding photos. I definitely hope to contribute much more here in the future. The German-speaking forum can be found at a specific section of Alpinforum. They might speak English as well, but it would probably be good form to use a translator in addition to using English.

Chairlift.org
Great source for vintage lift photographs, mostly in the United States. Venerable website that isn't updated often anymore, but we hope it sticks around.

NewEnglandSkiHistory
The only Comprehensive source of New England Ski Lifts. Great photos from even the smallest of ski areas.

Colorado Ski History
Dormant website that has lots of lift photos from Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Many of the lifts have been replaced. Click on "Resort Pictures" instead of "Ski Lifts."

Skiingbc.info
Great resource for ski lifts in British Columbia and Alberta including smaller ski areas. Hasn't been updated since 2008.

The Gondola Project
Blog that also has maps and lifts of urban and public transport ropeways. Lately has been dormant other than weekly news roundups.

Information Center for Ropeway Studies - General information about the Ropeway Center at the Colorado School of Mines. Includes online database of all of the material that is in there.

Mountain Scholar - Online database of images from the Ropeway Center collection. Images of a lot of older lifts can be found here, most taken by Chuck Dwyer.

Bergbahnen
Great German-speaking resource for over 5,000 lifts in Switzerland and Germany. I'm not too familiar, but it seems like a good resource.

http://www.lanove-drahy.cz/
Very good website on lifts in the Czech Republic. I believe the list of lifts is comprehensive for their country and most lifts have photos.

Australian Mountains
Good list of lifts in Australia with detailed stats. Not many pictures.

Funivie.org
The top Italian ski lift site. Has a very active community, but lacks any sort of ski lift database with photos.

tunawatari21
Japanese ski lift blog. Posts about 1-2 times weekly.

http://cable.cocolog-nifty.com/
Japanese ski lift blog that hasn't been updated in a few years.

Cableman
Japanese database of aerial trams and gondolas (not chairlifts and smaller lifts). Just information, not photos.

seilbahnbilder.ch
Swiss website I don't know much about.

Lost Ropeways
German website I don't know much about.

World Aerial Ropeways map
Not a website, but I believe it to be the largest map of non-skiing lifts in existence. I've put it together over the last 6-8 years or so and I and at least one other person have used it to make trips.

Let me know of any I forgot!

This post has been edited by Conrad: 17 July 2023 - 06:36 AM


#2 iceberg210

    Bald Eagle Lifts: Defying Gravity

  • Administrator II
  • 1,079 Posts:
  • Interests:42

Posted 24 June 2021 - 06:38 PM

Great resource and list thank you! I would only add that sklifts.org transitioned to the niche of the forum and industry (SORT) as other resources with pictures expanded.
Erik Berg
Bald Eagle Lifts: Defying Gravity
http://www.baldeaglelifts.com

#3 Conrad

    Established User

  • Member
  • 167 Posts:
  • Interests:Skiing, Hockey

Posted 25 June 2021 - 03:44 AM

Added that as well as Bergbahnen and Australian Mountains.

#4 Backbowlsbilly

    Established User

  • Member
  • 259 Posts:

Posted 11 July 2021 - 06:19 PM

I'll add a couple here so people can use the resources.

Information Center for Ropeway Studies - General information about the Ropeway Center at the Colorado School of Mines. Includes online database of all of the material that is in there.
Mountain Scholar - Online database of images from the Ropeway Center collection. Images of a lot of older lifts can be found here, most taken by Chuck Dwyer.

Thanks for putting together a master list of all of these resources!

This post has been edited by Backbowlsbilly: 11 July 2021 - 06:19 PM


#5 Bill

    Founder

  • Administrator II
  • 2,852 Posts:

Posted 13 July 2021 - 07:08 PM

Just glad my creation hasn’t died yet. Haha!
- Bill


#6 iceberg210

    Bald Eagle Lifts: Defying Gravity

  • Administrator II
  • 1,079 Posts:
  • Interests:42

Posted 14 July 2021 - 03:29 PM

View PostBill, on 13 July 2021 - 07:08 PM, said:

Just glad my creation hasn't died yet. Haha!


It's like an old Yan, never dies
Good to see you back!
Erik Berg
Bald Eagle Lifts: Defying Gravity
http://www.baldeaglelifts.com

#7 Bogong

    Established User

  • Member
  • 205 Posts:
  • Interests:Corrupting society, Australian ski history, Backcountry and resort skiing, mountaineering, extended hikes, making ski resorts viable summer destinations.

Posted 27 July 2021 - 02:15 PM

I've run the ski lift directory on Australian Mountains for the past 14 years and I'm interested in any feedback people here can provide, as I want to improve it as part of a 300,000 views revamp.

At the start of the site there are few sections on ski lift records in Australia, the companies that made the lifts and the different types of ski lifts.
Then the majority of the site is tables of every lift built at each ski resort arranged by date from 1937 to 2021, with about 500 lifts in total.

I appreciate that most lifts do not have photos, but I can't see how I can add them with the sites current format. But if anyone has ideas on how that might be done or if you think something like my description of what a Poma-lift is could be better, please let me know.
Details of every Australian ski lift ever built. http://www.australia...ralianskilifts/

#8 ne_skier

    New User

  • Member
  • 16 Posts:

Posted 29 July 2021 - 09:22 AM

Chairlift.org was the first chairlift website I ever found, I was absolutely astonished that this information was on the internet and that there were other people who actually took interest in lifts. By some miracle, it turns out that the website owner is a friend of one of my dad's high school friends, and I got in touch with him. I've been supplying him info and pictures, and I am finishing up what could be the largest update that site has seen in a while. I have 16 completely rewritten resort profiles, around 100 new and old photos (My estimation skills aren't the best but good enough), and detailed, rewritten brand info for 24 lift manufacturers and other companies such as SkyTrans and Superior Tramway.

This post has been edited by ne_skier: 29 July 2021 - 09:23 AM


#9 sheave

    Established User

  • Industry II
  • 114 Posts:
  • Interests:History

Posted 29 July 2021 - 10:38 AM

View Postne_skier, on 29 July 2021 - 09:22 AM, said:

Chairlift.org was the first chairlift website I ever found, I was absolutely astonished that this information was on the internet and that there were other people who actually took interest in lifts. By some miracle, it turns out that the website owner is a friend of one of my dad's high school friends, and I got in touch with him. I've been supplying him info and pictures, and I am finishing up what could be the largest update that site has seen in a while. I have 16 completely rewritten resort profiles, around 100 new and old photos (My estimation skills aren't the best but good enough), and detailed, rewritten brand info for 24 lift manufacturers and other companies such as SkyTrans and Superior Tramway.

The update sounds good. Where did you get all the details to rewrite the profiles and brand info?

I have often tried to get in touch with the owner, but he did never get back to me.

#10 ne_skier

    New User

  • Member
  • 16 Posts:

Posted 29 July 2021 - 11:48 AM

Got the info from personal knowledge, knowledge of others I’m in touch with as well as various internet sources, brochures etc. All sources will be linked ofc.

He told me he hasn’t checked the Orange Gondola email in years, if you have something to add to the site feel free to send it to me and I’ll put it into my collection with a note to credit you!

#11 Conrad

    Established User

  • Member
  • 167 Posts:
  • Interests:Skiing, Hockey

Posted 16 July 2023 - 03:10 PM

Lift-World has seen some good improvements since the last update. They are currently up to 22,823 lifts worldwide with 71,289 photos. Take a look at the stats page which was created in 2022. You can see the latest lifts added to the database as well as the most recent photos and videos.
https://lift-world.i.../statistics.htm

Also, I think it is now easier to view photos on the lift profile. A simpler click through rather than having to open every photo as I think it used to be. It is also possible to link to external YouTube videos on the lift profile.

Source: https://lift-world.i.../statistics.htm





1 User(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users