Zürs (Arlberg) - Seekopfbahn

The History:
Ever since 1978, Arlberg has installed many detachable chairlifts beginning with the Kriegerhornbahn. Nowadays the majority of the resort is made up of detachable lifts, most of them 6 or 8 person lifts, but few of the older detachables remain. The Seekopf Bahn was installed in 1987 in Zürs as the area's first detachable. It replaced a double chairlift, although little is known about that lift. Eleven years later in 1998, Girak & Garaventa installed Zürs' second detachable chairlift, the Zürserseebahn. The two lifts start on opposite ends of the village but terminate next to each other. Since the Seekopfbahn was beginning to show its age in the early/mid 2010s, Arlberg commissioned Doppelmayr to install new heated bubble quad carriers on the lift. Later in the 2010s or even early 2020s, the electronics were replaced by Doppelmayr with ones similar to those used on D-Line lifts.
The Lift:
The Seekopfbahn is one of the oldest detachable chairlifts remaining in the Arlberg resort having been installed in 1987. Like many detachables of the time, its terminals are located inside buildings. The terminal equipment is mostly original with chain driven contours and an interesting setup at the return (bottom) with two bullwheels for the tensioning system. The vault drive is located at the top terminal. Like almost every lift at Arlberg, it features loading gates at the bottom terminal. For carriers it uses replacement Doppelmayr European-style bubble quad carriers with seat heating. These are not the original carriers and were likely added some time in the 2010s. Doppelmayr DS grips are used along with late '80s style Doppelmayr lifting frames. Because of its recent upgrades including new D-Line style controls and electronics, I don't suspect this will be replaced anytime soon even with its old age.
Die Geschichte:
Seit 1978 hat der Arlberg viele kuppelbare Sesselbahnen installiert, beginnend mit der Kriegerhornbahn. Heutzutage besteht der Großteil des Resorts aus kuppelbaren Aufzügen, die meisten davon 6- oder 8-Personen-Aufzüge, aber nur wenige der älteren kuppelbaren Lifte sind erhalten geblieben. Die Seekopf Bahn wurde 1987 in Zürs als erstes kuppelbares Triebwerk der Gegend installiert. Er ersetzte eine Doppelsesselbahn, über die jedoch wenig bekannt ist. Elf Jahre später, 1998, installierten Girak & Garaventa die zweite kuppelbare Sesselbahn von Zürs, die Zürserseebahn. Die beiden Lifte starten an gegenüberliegenden Enden des Dorfes, enden aber nebeneinander. Da die Seekopfbahn Anfang/Mitte der 2010er Jahre in die Jahre gekommen war, beauftragte der Arlberg Doppelmayr mit der Installation neuer beheizter Bubble-Quad-Träger an der Bahn. Später in den 2010er oder sogar Anfang der 2020er Jahre wurde die Elektronik von Doppelmayr durch eine ähnliche ersetzt, wie sie bei D-Line-Aufzügen verwendet wird.
Der Lift:
Die Seekopfbahn ist eine der ältesten noch erhaltenen kuppelbaren Sesselbahnen des Arlbergs und wurde 1987 errichtet. Wie viele kuppelbare Seilbahnen der Zeit befinden sich ihre Endstationen in Gebäuden. Die Endausrüstung ist größtenteils original mit kettengetriebenen Konturen und einem interessanten Setup am Rücklauf (unten) mit zwei Schwungrädern für das Spannsystem. Das Tresorlaufwerk befindet sich am oberen Terminal. Wie fast jeder Lift am Arlberg verfügt er über Verladeschleusen an der Talstation. Für Gepäckträger verwendet er Ersatz-Doppelmayr-Bubble-Quad-Träger im europäischen Stil mit Sitzheizung. Dies sind nicht die ursprünglichen Träger und wurden wahrscheinlich irgendwann in den 2010er Jahren hinzugefügt. Doppelmayr DS Griffe werden zusammen mit Doppelmayr Hubrahmen im Stil der späten 80er Jahre verwendet. Aufgrund der jüngsten Upgrades, einschließlich neuer D-Line-Steuerung und Elektronik, vermute ich nicht, dass dies auch im Alter in absehbarer Zeit ersetzt werden wird.

[@NortheasternP.T.S.]

That’s was the smoothest detach I’ve ever seen

[@CBF1]

Doppelmayr have always been one for smoothly running detachable grips.
Doppelmayr used Von Roll grips from 1972 (when they built the original Rossstelle gondola lift, otherwise known as the Mellaubahn, moved to Almenwelt Lofer in 1982) until 1984 (on the Fleckalmbahn), they used DS grips from 1983 until the mid-90's, they used DT grips from 1994, and D-Line grips(a two-position remake of the Agamatic grip, developed by Agamatic, Italy in 1984, the predecessing grip to all modern detachable grips) from when the first D-Line was built in 2015(Hochgurgl's Kirchenkarbahn).

[@NortheasternP.T.S.]

@@CBF1 Well the UNI-Ms, -S, -Ls, and the UNI-GS all have really violent detaches

[@CBF1]

@@NortheasternP.T.S. There are ski lifts that detach more violently, namely the Poma S-Types. Those cannot be found in the United States. The first S-Type was made in Val D'Isere (La Daille) in 1966 and the last one was made in 1982. The S-Type grip however was continued in production until 1986 when Poma resorted to only using the Omega/TB grips.

[@iseneau27]

You've been in the Alps? That's awesome!

[@teddysliftworld]

2nd time. The first was in 2016 before I had this channel.

[@TwinSkiingLiftsRides]

Sweet! I’m checking out Whistler for a few days.

[@sorenjones]

This lift is the same install year as the original Zinsbergbahn at Brixen, Austria. So besides the chairs and upgraded electronics, Seekopfbahn is quite similar. That lift was replaced with a D-Line Chondola, and now resides here in Washington at Mission Ridge, with the name Wenatchee Express.

[@CBF1]

Old Zinsberg still exists? Good to hear, if that's so. No old ski lift ever deserves to face the scrap heap.

[@teddysliftworld]

@@CBF1 It still operates at Mission Ridge in Washington. Honestly they should’ve gone the route of a newer detachable that will cause less headaches down the road.

[@CBF1]

@@teddysliftworld Well at least that's one less vintage ski lift facing the scrapper's blowtorch unecessarily.

[@CBF1]

This is a proper Doppelmayr. Very nice-looking and properly made solid machinery, very alpine looking, barely any needless tech cramped into it at all, etc etc... And it's an old lift most importantly and nearly all old ski lifts around the world are mechanically different. Or at least, in those days, there were a lot of different mechanical designs then and they changed alot. That's something that nobody will ever get nowadays.
This is the oldest detachable chairlift in the whole Arlberg. That title formerly belonged to Schindlergrat, built in 1981, a very rare first-generation Doppelmayr detachable chairlift(it had modified versions of Von Roll grips, known as the Schwaiger grips, Doppelmayr used those from 1976 until 1983, when the DS grip came along and first appeared in Lech, the first lift using those grips was built there and exists now in Ehrwald near the Zugspitze area. The old Quicksilver of Breckenridge had Von Roll-Schwaiger grips.) but it was murdered in 2019 by a Disgraceful-Line(D-Line).
The stations of this lift use similar blueprints to those of Schindlergrat and other first-gen DM CLD's, only that the motor is underground, the curves at the back of the stations are different, and it has DS grips instead of modified Von-Roll-Schwaiger grips used on Doppelmayr's first-generation detachable chairlifts.

[@owenchabot]

Merry Christmas Teddy and a happy New Year!

[@teddysliftworld]

Thanks! Same to you.

[@idahoskilifts4242]

This lift is simular to the ones in Japan, where the Bottom/ top Terminals start in a building, and you can see all the machinery right above you.

[@jonathancook4022]

Hey! Your in Austria!!! Shame I wasn’t there or you could have found some free accommodation in my parents chalet.
Nice video, sure there will be more to come! Where else are you going?

[@teddysliftworld]

Just Lech, Zurs, and the entire Arlberg area this year. We’ll probably come back next year as well. My dad has been coming for years.

[@julianhudson7811]

Wow, you went to Austria to go skiing? That is so cool.
Just asking, but are you planning to upload more videos from your trip?

[@teddysliftworld]

I'm still in Austria, but yes, I plan to upload several more videos.

[@cookiesrgud1935]

Looks pretty fast for a lift that old

[@teddysliftworld]

Yeah it runs at a decent speed. Most detachables here are run pretty slowly surprisingly. I’d suspect this is about 850 or 900 ft/min.

[@cookiesrgud1935]

@@teddysliftworld ok

[@kdawg_gde]

When was this recorded?

[@teddysliftworld]

2 days ago