Jakob launches new ski lift rope

According to a press release from Jakob Rope Systems, a rope specialist based in Trubschachen in the canton of Bern, it has developed a new ski lift rope that does not have the same weaknesses as current ski lift ropes. The new fiber rope is intended for use in small ski lifts with low running ropes. The company set up its own test station with a model of a small ski lift at its Trubschachen site for development.

In order to be able to guarantee consistent rope quality, Jakob Rope Systems has braids and rope produced entirely on Swiss production machines. Versus conventional ski lift ropes, the Hybrid 5 ski lift rope is characterized by its good grip, decreased stretching, lower injury risk when gripping, and easier splicing. This was made possible with a five-strand rope construction of various braided rope fibers that can be long spliced. The Hybrid 5 also received a module H certificate in accordance with the European Regulation on Cableways in November.

Alfred Beer, a rope expert at Jakob Rope Systems, explains in an interview on the website of Jakob Rope Systems that “a load-bearing HMPE fiber in the strand core and a monofilament-multifilament blend as the strand sheath” are used for this rope. He adds that using five strands for the structure is “unusual for ropes used in conveyor technology” but it has its advantages: “On the one hand, it makes the rope easier to grip, and on the other, it makes it easier to splice the rope into an endless ring on the ski lift.”