11 replies to this topic

[JimD]

Is anyone aware of any companies that design and install residential gondola or platform cable lifts? I'm considering one for my lakefront home but most providers only build tracked lifts (inclined elevators or hillside trams). It would seem to me that a lift might be less expensive to install.

[liftmech]

Approximately how long would your lift be? That would probably be the deciding factor in what sort of lift to install. Some people to contact: Jim or John Ellis at Superior Tramway in Spokane, WA; Joe Gmuender of Gmuender Engineering LLC (joe@gmuender.com). I don't imagine Poma or DoppelmayrCTEC build lifts that small, although you could contact them just to see (www.pomagroup.com, www.doppelmayrctec.com)

[djspookman]

liftmech, on May 12 2005, 09:06 AM, said:

Approximately how long would your lift be? That would probably be the deciding factor in what sort of lift to install. Some people to contact: Jim or John Ellis at Superior Tramway in Spokane, WA; Joe Gmuender of Gmuender Engineering LLC (joe@gmuender.com). I don't imagine Poma or DoppelmayrCTEC build lifts that small, although you could contact them just to see (www.pomagroup.com, www.doppelmayrctec.com)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Call up Mad River Glen in VT and ask them if they know anything about the cable lift that was built to access the house on the bottom of the Rockefellar trail. Its about 70-100 vertical feet, and about 200 feet long. I'm not sure if thats a relative scale to yours or not though.

I have seen numerous horizontal cableways across rivers here in VT before though that use a small human powered cart to cross the river, but I think those are homebuilt.

Dave

This post has been edited by djspookman: 12 May 2005 - 05:26 AM

[vons]

In vail someone built a lift just like you would need they used an old Vail gondola cabin and bi-cable grip a section of trac rope and an electric hoist. The lift spans station to station but is only about 4 feet of the ground but it is steep. There is a company called hillhiker that makes lifts like the one Bud showed. There web site is www.hillhiker.com unfortunately it is an inclined elevator or funicular not a suspended system like a tram.

[JimD]

liftmech, on May 12 2005, 09:06 AM, said:

Approximately how long would your lift be? <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The verticle drop is about 80-100 feet at full pool and 120-140ft at winter pool. I'm guessing the surface length at 150-200ft. From across the lake it looks like twice that length butu I hope that is an optical illusion. The descent starts out about 30 degrees, steepens, and then gets too steep for me to climb down unassisted.

And thanks for all the leads. I had only located a single supplier on the Web, Accumar.

Jim Divoky

[JimD]

budfischer, on May 12 2005, 11:23 AM, said:

Here's one built by Yan in the early eighties.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wow, that is slick! Only my hillside is massive rocks and a few small cliffs. In any case, people on Arrowhead Lake can afford such things, I live in Sevier County, TN. My budget is only a couple of steps above tying a rope around my waist and hooking it to the winch on the front of my pickup truck. The trouble is the range of the remote control isn't great enough.

[SkiBachelor]

If you arn't wanting to spend a lot of money on a chairlift, check out eBay.com. It's pretty rare though to see an actual chairlift for sale, but some ski resorts do list them on there. I remember seeing a Borvig last year.

[JimD]

SkiBachelor, on May 17 2005, 07:21 PM, said:

If you arn't wanting to spend a lot of money on a chairlift, check out eBay.com. It's pretty rare though to see an actual chairlift for sale, but some ski resorts do list them on there. I remember seeing a Borvig last year.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I hadn't thought of that. I'll set up a watch tonight. I just checked. There's a rope tow at auction right now.

There's also probably a site or two for used ski resort equipment I'll try to track down. I suspect most commercial equipment would be overkill for a private home but you never know.

I'm assuming $30-40,000 for the tram, lift, or whatever I go with. Hopefully, I'll split the cost with the neighbor.

Jim

This post has been edited by JimD: 17 May 2005 - 03:46 PM

[Allan]

www.resortboneyard.com is a place with used lift equipment.

[iceberg210]

Also Jim you could put up a wanted sign for a thing of this nature in the skilift.org classified section. If you could post a rough sketch of the hill (up down where the cliffs are etc) that might be quite helpful.

What I would suggest for this is but two or three chairs on a haul rope and built exactly like a chair lift. If you contacted Superior like John said above you might be able to get a hold of just one or two towers and some spare parts which might be enough for what your trying to do I don't know. There is an outfit on the East called Knapp and Associates which you could also try and get in contact with. Anyway good luck.

[SkiBachelor]

Mad River Lifts is also another good place to check out for used lifts.

http://madriverlifts.com/market.htm

[SkiReg]

Check out the following for hilside elevators.

www.accumar.com
www.hillhiker.com
www.hilltram.com
www.hillsideelevator

Or just use "Hillside Elevators" in a google search.