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A surface lift is a means of cable transport that transports skiers and snowboarders, in which riders remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. Once prevalent, they have gradually been overtaken in popularity by higher-capacity aerial lifts like chairlifts and the gondola lift. Today, surface lifts are most often found on beginner slopes and very small ski areas.

Surface lifts have many disadvantages compared to aerial lifts: they require more passenger skill, the surface must be continuous, they impede skiable terrain, are slow in speed, and of limited capacity.They are often utilized at glacier skiing resorts because their supports can be anchored in glacier ice due to the lower forces. Surface lifts have two advantages over aerial lifts: they can be exited before the lift reaches the top, and they can often continue operating in wind conditions that are too strong for a chairlift.

The first surface lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/Eisenbach, Hochschwarzwald. A steam-powered toboggan tow, 950 feet (290 m) in length, was built in Truckee, California, in 1910. The first skier-specific tow in North America was apparently installed in 1933 by Alec Foster at Shawbridge in the Laurentians outside Montreal, Quebec.

The Shawbridge tow was quickly copied at , in New England, in 1934 by Bob and Betty Royce, proprietors of the White Cupboard Inn. Their tow was driven by the rear wheel of a Ford Model A. Wallace "Bunny" Bertram took it over for the second season, improved the operation, renamed it from Ski-Way to Ski Tow, and eventually moved it to what became the eastern fringe of Vermont's major southern ski areas, a regional resort still operating as Suicide Six. Their relative simplicity made tows widespread and contributed to an explosion of the sport in the United States and Europe. Before tows, only people willing to walk uphill could ski. Suddenly relatively nonathletic people could participate, greatly increasing the appeal of the sport. Within five years, more than 100 tow ropes were operating in North America.

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Wikipedia