MOUNTAIN OPERATIONS_>>
Hills can move roughly 5,000 guests per hour—more than twice the capacity of a fixed-grip quad. (Ed. note: This capacity estimate is based on the author’s timed field observations and calculations; not a manu- facturer rating.) “It almost always comes back to speed… or cost,” explains Will Mayo, owner of TowPro Lifts. “And this is the most affordable lift that you can get.” The financial equation is compel-
ling. Where a chairlift can run millions to install, a rope tow is a fraction of the cost. For smaller hills, that affordability can be the difference between survival and closure. “The whole point [of Tow- Pro] is to make it possible for the little guy to keep serving their local commu- nity,” says Mayo, who even hopes to see “more municipal hills built out with turnkey rope tow kits.”
For resorts, the payoff is clear. “It keeps lift lines down, brings in more customers, and the maintenance costs are significantly less than a chairlift,” says Mahler. Rope tows can also reduce staff- ing demands. In many states, a single employee can oversee a rope tow with clear sightlines, allowing operators to run these lifts with less than half the staff typically required for aerial lifts. Ski areas such as Kingvale often assign their park crew to operate the tow, inte- grating lift duties into their regular responsibilities. Franzen notes that this approach also gives staff a sense of ownership over the park experience. “Your park staff rotates in and out of the lift all day. It gives them something to do, and they take owner- ship of it—it’s their baby.” Costs and throughput aside, rope tows also carry a safety advantage. Spinning Toward Safety Rope tow safety is simple when it comes down to it. With no passengers suspend- ed in the air, rope tow mishaps are rarely serious, say insurers. Save for the occa- sional pileup, riders simply let go when trouble arises. “As soon as you pick people up in the air, you need a lot of additional sys- tems to ensure it’s safe,” suggests Mayo. A rope evacuation will never be needed on a rope tow. Also, ropes help keep terrain park riders in the park, and that provides safe- ty advantages as well. It minimizes situ- ations where guests are speeding down runs just to get to a park, potentially causing a collision. “We have a huge infrastructure at Big Sky, but we also have a rope tow,” says Jeremy Cooper, VP of mountain sports development for Boyne Resorts, which owns Big Sky Resort. “The driving force behind that was not only guest demand, but also the reality that mingling begin- ners with park riders didn’t lead to the best guest experience. Isolating user and skill groups helps prevent that.” Taking together culture, cost, efficien- cy, and safety, rope tows are more than a relic. They’re carving out an important role in the ski industry for both mom- and-pops and larger resorts.
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