Most mountains are very steep and have rocky/forest terrain.
How do the pylons get installed and in particular how on earth were old school systems installed?
Always wondered and can’t seem to find anything on the installation process itself on YT.
Thanks! Looking forward to learning!
In: 27
I don’t have specific knowledge of cable cars or ski installations. But I’m a modern tower and mast rigger.
We always prefer cranes, but a crane is a super heavy vehicle or a static footprint potentially bigger than what you are building, so you can’t always get a crane in.
As long as there have been helicopters we’ve been using them to build pylons and masts in awkward spots. A big pylon might be flown in sections and assembled in the air by a climber, who also unhooks.
Smaller pylons and installations before the availability of helicopters relies on road and room to work. You might also ‘raise’ something skilift sized, tip it up with rope teams.
Examples of things we had to use helicopters for are radio and cell towers in wooded locations or on rural heights. Both assembly and tear-down. I’d guess most contemporary ski resorts are Heli built outside of the resort town and beginner areas.
About me: I work with Event staging, telecomms installs, wind turbine maintenance, even assembly of construction cranes. Rigging is sometimes a catch-all, it’s strictly the process of suspending heavy loads, the person who attaches pieces to the Heli is rigging, but often doubles for ‘working at height’. I hold Irata rope access certifications and have no legal ceiling, if you can present the next piece, I’ll be there to mount it.
If there is not a road there you carry it with humans or animals. Today life with a helicopter would be a better option.
Remember you do not need to build the final system directly. You can build a temporary cableway that supports less load and use it to transport the equipment you need.
If you look at the people moving variant the first is in the late 19th century. So you have quite modern technology. You can build a tow with metal trusses that are tall but at the same time, each individual part is quite light. Wood can be used as temporary transportation systems for material and can be available on sight if it is a forest
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_tramway#Moving_people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_tramway#Moving_people)
The wire is made by having a very thin wire, to begin with, and then using it to pull a heavy wire. Something like a fishing line could b used today as a staert. You can carry it up and lift it and lift it above trees with wooden poles.
One method:
Clear the hike route (or use helicopter)
Climb up with (or use a motor to pull) a small line tied to and pulling a slightly larger medium line. Then a medium line tied to a large line. Repeat until you have the correct size line stretching where you need it.
Build top and bottom pulleys/motors.
Build pylons.
Put line in pylons.
Gin poles were used to build tall structures in awkward places in the olden days. A gin pole is a stick with a block and tackle attached to the top, raised above the top of the structure, anchored to it, then used to lift the next level of the structure into position.
In the past, they would string a light cable, to pull a thicker cable, which might then pull an even thicker and final cable.
I’ve witnessed chairlifts at a ski resort installed by helicopter (with people on the ground, of course).
It’s probably very similar to how power lines & towers are erected. Here is one video that shows how the towers were assembled (old school) [https://youtu.be/Oafnr0J4a5I?t=1860](https://youtu.be/Oafnr0J4a5I?t=1860)
I’ve seen an old school video that shows cables being pulled up with tractors, but I could not find it. Here is another video (modern times) showing how power cables are strung up. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sMfrxdJfn8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sMfrxdJfn8)
Latest Answers