How do they string cable for a chairlift?

Gore says they're gonna string the cable on the new Hudson chairlift next week. I often wondered how they do that and how are the ends joined. Do they just unwind the cable off a spool and lift it on each tower then drag more off to the next tower? Or do they lay it on  the ground all the way up and back down then lift it up?

OR do they do it the way Niagra Falls gorge was spanned.....feed a thin light weight line first all the way and progress to thicker line/wire/cable until the final cable is draw up and around by the chairlift's own motor?

Niagra was spanned using a kid's, yes kid's, idea. They were contemplating how to possibly span the gorge when a local kid, who regularly flew his kite there, said he could fly a kite across Niagra gorge. This was done and subsequently thicker lines were dragged across.

The ends of a chairlift cable are either woven at the job site into a splice over a long stretch of cable OR the cable comes from the manufacturer as a continuos loop, in which case the installation would be different than the Niagra method....i.e. lay it all on the ground and then hoist it to the tower tops.

Anybody know for sure?

Either way.....Thanks Roebling.

They feed it out from the spool of cable at the bottom up and over each towers wheels. Loop around the top and do the same on the way down. Usually pulling with a truck then a rope to go over the wheels. Sometimes in steep sections just good old manppower pulling. I don't know this from experience. Saw a video a year or so back where they were installing a lift in Montana. It showed from the cement to the helicopter to the rigging of the cable. it was interesting but I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it. I hope they get the new chair up and running soon the SNOW! is coming.

Thanks HH. That would seem to be the easiest method. Gore could probably use Big Chuck to drag that sucka himself.

Snowballs wrote

The ends of a chairlift cable are either woven at the job site into a splice over a long stretch of cable OR the cable comes from the manufacturer as a continuos loop, in which case the installation would be different than the Niagra method....i.e. lay it all on the ground and then hoist it to the tower tops.

Anybody know for sure?

This is the part that fascinates me.

I don't know for sure, but I did ask Cliff this question when I was at Big Tupper in September.  To be honest, I didn't really understand the explanation, but he did say that each single strand of cable, ends in a different spot creating a very strong bond through friction.  So there's no single spot that is "the seam."  How they do that weave on the spot — I have no idea.  I do know that the counterbalance negates the need for a perfect measurement on cable length.

I hear ya. I've even watched cables to see if there was a discernable seam. Given the amount of weight, torque, high wind loads and extended time periods it hangs there, it must be woven over a substantial length of cable and perhaps pressed together after being woven. Likely the inherent " curl " in the individual wire strands wrap right around each other adding greatly to the friction. They certainly have it figured out.

Some of these, as you know, ascend virtual cliffs thousands of feet high. Some of the ones in Europe,  or the intramtn at Whistler.........

Here's a video of lift brake failure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8rXiN_Oys4&feature=related

A climber will pull a rope up and over each sheave  (wheel) assembly and the cable will be pulled all the way up and back down. The splice will probably be close to 100' long in order to keep the diameter of the cable (aka wire rope) consistent. Cable splicing is a very specialized job. The spliced will travel to Gore just to splice this one cable and then he will move on to another project.

We were up over the weekend to do some work on the house to get ready for winter.  Unfortuntely we didn't make it over to the bowl until we were on our way out of town on Sunday night and it was almost dark.  It looked like to me that they had run the cable up and back down and were just waiting for the splice master.  

I think it is so friggin cool to be able to see the lift and a few trails from "downtown".  Wonder when they are going to try and get the connection open?

Had another amazing meal at Bar Vino on Saturday night. I think the food there just gets better and better.  The beer ain't bad either.  Town seemed to be hopping for a "shoulder" weekend.

From Gore's Facebook:



Here's an exclusive:


Photos courtesy Gore Mountain

Photo courtesy of Gore Mountain