the.com/chairlift
a flying bench that dared the mountain to make sitting down terrifying.
means A motorized aerial transport system of seats suspended from a moving cable, used to carry skiers and sightseers up a mountain slope.
from A plain twentieth-century compound of "chair" and "lift," born with the sport of downhill skiing when someone decided the long trudge uphill was best replaced by a seat that simply lifts you. "Chair" descends through Old French "chaiere" from Latin "cathedra" (a seat, also the root of "cathedral"); "lift" comes from Old Norse "lypta," to raise. So the word literally means "a seat that raises you" — exactly what it does, dangling and all.
- first one
- Built in 1936 by a banana-conveyor engineer in Idaho.
- dropped feet
- Skiers once leapt from moving chairs before footrests existed.
- speed
- Detachable lifts hit 12 mph, then politely slow to load.
- banana roots
- Sun Valley's design borrowed from tropical fruit shipping rigs.
- the wait
- You spend more time riding up than skiing down.
peak 2 peak gondola — whistler blackcomb, canada - 4.4 km continuous span, longest unsupported lift in the world
titlis rotair — mount titlis, switzerland - rotating cable car that spins 360 degrees during ascent
jade dragon snow mountain — yunnan province, china - highest cable car station in asia at 4,680 meters