Chondola

A hybrid lift is a type of ski lift that combines the elements of a chairlift and a gondola lift. First introduced by Poma, who refers to them as Telemix, they have since been copied by most lift manufacturers who refer to them by a variety of names; Doppelmayr refers to them as combined installations, while the more generic terms chondola and telecombi are also common.

Both chairs and gondolas have advantages for lift operations. Gondolas are heavier and have lower wind tolerance, but offer protection from the elements and are particularly useful in rain or very cold conditions. They can also be used during the summer for walk-on guests, cyclists or wheelchairs, and in the winter for snowshoers. In the winter, gondolas require skiers and snowboarders to remove their equipment and walk into the cabin, which can slow the speed of operation at the ends of the lift. Chairs are lighter and can be operated in higher winds, while also generally being more comfortable and easier to board for skiers.

A hybrid lift allows cabins and chairs to be used on the same lift line, changing them as the rider load, season and weather conditions demand. To allow safe loading and unloading, stations have separate areas for the different carrier types, resembling a gondola station followed by a chairlift station, or vice versa. The overall length of the boarding area can be reduced by folding the station so that the gondolas are loaded on the "downhill" side of the ends of the lift, and the chairs on the uphill side. On most hybrid lifts, there will usually be more chairs than cabins, e.g., Sunday River (Maine)'s Chondola has 60 chairs and 15 cabins, with four chairs in between each cabin.

Hybrid lifts offer year-round versatility, increasingly important as ski resorts add summertime activities like downhill cycling and nature hiking trails.

The Hybrid, (l'hybride in French) at Mont Orford in Quebec is a 6-passenger chair/8-seater gondola cabin that replaced a double-chair in 2008.

Sweden's first hybrid lift was installed in Åre ski resort in Åre, Sweden. The new hybrid lift is named 'VM 8:an' and replaces the former four-passenger chair lift 'Olympialiften'. The lift was installed by Leitner in 2006 and consists of 16 eight-passenger gondola cabins, and 68 eight-passenger chairs.

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Wikipedia