Because the cable moves faster than most passengers could safely disembark and load, each chair is connected to the cable by a powerful spring-loaded cable grip which detaches at terminals, allowing the chair to slow considerably for convenient loading and unloading at a typical speed of 200 ft/min (2 mph, 4 km/h, 1 m/ ...

High-speed "detachable" ski lifts in 2026 use a sophisticated spring-loaded grip mechanism to separate the chair from the main haul rope as it enters the station. On the mountain, the chair is clamped onto the steel cable with thousands of pounds of pressure. As the chair enters the terminal, a "caming" rail pushes down on a lever on the grip, which overcomes the spring's tension and opens the jaws, releasing the cable. The chair then moves onto a system of slow-moving tires or chains that glide it through the loading area at a comfortable 2 mph, while the main cable continues at 12 mph. Once the skiers are safely loaded, the process reverses: the tires accelerate the chair to match the cable's speed, and a second rail allows the spring to snap the grip shut back onto the rope. In 2026, these systems are monitored by redundant laser sensors that will instantly stop the lift if a grip fails to "lock" with the required force before exiting the station.