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How are the two ends of a ski lift cable held together?

I’ve been looking at ski lift cables for over 20 years – I recently saw a lift being constructed and saw the cable on a roll with the exposed end. How are the two ends connected? I have never seen evidence of the connection.

It’s an end-to-end (or butt) splice, usually several meters long. (The length of the splice is proportional to the length of the lift. Longer lifts mean longer splices.)

Basically it involves unravelling both ends of the cable, then removing half of the individual wires from each end, then re-weaving the remaining wires. Wire rope professionals call this type of splice a "marriage" (and pray like hell there’s never a "divorce!")

Frames 10 through 21 of the slideshow on the attached page ( http://www.osc-ski.org/skiing/marriage.htm ) show the process of splicing the ends.

The splice is painted so that inspectors can locate it, but the paint wears off pretty quickly. On new chairlifts, you might see this painted segment if you watch long enough and carefully enough.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 30th, 2009 at 2:37 pm and is filed under roll on lift. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “How are the two ends of a ski lift cable held together?”

  1. It is woven like rope – a Butt Splice, then overwrapped with steel wire.
    References :

  2. I believe they are soldered together
    References :

  3. The most likely connection point would be at a Car (Seat) attachment point. The cable would be looped & overlapped and then clamped together in a connection that is at least 2x stronger than the single cable. You don’t see it because it’s concealed by the rigging above the car or seat.
    References :

  4. It’s an end-to-end (or butt) splice, usually several meters long. (The length of the splice is proportional to the length of the lift. Longer lifts mean longer splices.)

    Basically it involves unravelling both ends of the cable, then removing half of the individual wires from each end, then re-weaving the remaining wires. Wire rope professionals call this type of splice a "marriage" (and pray like hell there’s never a "divorce!")

    Frames 10 through 21 of the slideshow on the attached page ( http://www.osc-ski.org/skiing/marriage.htm ) show the process of splicing the ends.

    The splice is painted so that inspectors can locate it, but the paint wears off pretty quickly. On new chairlifts, you might see this painted segment if you watch long enough and carefully enough.
    References :

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