We’ve all had a scary experience on a chairlift, tram, or gondola. Some lifts are scarier than others, and that should be recognized. Whitelines.com put together a list of the 5 scariest lifts in the world, along with some details as to why each lift is great at raising the hairs on the back of your neck. We personally used to get freaked out every time we rode Red Dog at Palisades Tahoe, California, before they upgraded it.
The 5 Scariest Lifts in the World
#1. The Penkenbahn, Mayrhofen, Austria
Dangers: High winds – a regular occurrence in the Zillertal Valley – can make the gondolas swing violently.
#2. The Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix, France
Danger: High winds, rocks falling off the cliff, temperature differences in the cables, avalanches, and cornice falls, plus classic French overcrowding that pushes the car beyond its weight limit. What more do you need?
#3. The whole lift system Karakol, Kyrgyzstan
Danger: Karakol is probably the sketchiest resort in this article because while it would be hideous to experience a cable accident anywhere (and there are certainly higher lifts out there), it’s a long way from Karakol to the nearest hospital – down a frozen dirt road.
#4. The Vanoise Express, La Plagne-Les Acrs, France
Dangers: In 2003, before the lift opened to the public, one of the test drivers (no doubt several Vin Chauds to the good) managed to crash the cable car into the station on the Peisey-Vallandry side. He was supposedly traveling at about twenty km/h at the time—ten times the normal docking speed! And who said the French were bad drivers? Thankfully, they’ve since put a computer in charge of the controls…
#5. The Freccia, Cortina, Italy
Dangers: Old cables, sketchy hand-bolted doors, fragile aluminum from four decades ago, rock falls, avalanches, vertigo, sphincter over-tightening, claustrophobia, fur coats suffocating you with their musty stench…. the list is endless.
Howard, you need to go ski in Europe, you’ll laugh at our slopes. Whistler/Blackcomb and Revelstoke, plus one or two others are good, but go ski off the top of the Titlis tram, or the Rothornbahn, or the MIDI and you’ll see.
So true. Plus you got to realize MBA’s from the Ivy League are making the decisions, in other words, flatlanders. Look at aspen, owned by Chicagoans, what a joke.
I love taking my Colorado friends for their 1st ride at Squaw on Red Dog!
I met Miles on that lift too!
I hear the ride down on red dog can be exciting also…
Notice how its all in Europe? Where they actually have ski resorts at the top of big mountain ranges? Not like America where we have ski resorts near easy access to highways?
Why is that you ask? Because no new ski resorts have been built or expanded since the 70’s.
Thank you very much you crazy tree hugger enviros. Good job at moving the Squaw-Alpine gondola over a couple hundred feet. You’re really saving the world.
What a bone head comment. Also not correct.
So true. Europe rocks.
Silverton, Tamarack, Cherry Peak, Mount Bohemia- these are all ski areas that have opened in the last 20 years. Is it more possible that ski areas with 7k vert need longer lifts and tram than America’s average 2k vert resort? FYI Kyrgyzstan is not in Europe
Nothing at squaw is even close to any thing in Europe no even Red-Dog our old kt
SV – old KT 22 a real pucker fest in the wind!!
Or on e-stop when one section of the heavy side would go up 40 feet then down 40 feet. My stomach was never synced with the chair.
Honorable mention: Sandia Peak Cable Car
Sandia Peak seemed pleasant enough… does it get rocking in the wind?
A little wind and at night,, vertigo.
Honorable mention: Red Dog, Squaw Valley
Marte comes to mind. I’ll always put the bar down on that lift…
I’ve thought the same, definitely Marte, more if you are stuck in the chair with high winds and need to be evacuated!!!
How about the one North Korea ski area.
If they don’t like you they might shoot you.
I’m surprised none of the lifts in Iran made it to the list!
Wow what completely wrong statement in every way. Have you been to say Big Sky, Telluride, Jackson Hole? Also the base elevation of most European ski resorts are at a much lower altitude than the Rockies or the Sierra Nevada range. Hence the long steep lifts and longer verts No new ski areas since the 70s? Hmm I must have tripping back in 1998 when I was at open day of Blacktail Mountain in Montana. Here’s a few others. Mount Bohemia, MI (2000) Silverton Mountain, CO (2002) Tamarack Resort, ID (2004), Cherry Peak, UT (2015) Maybe a little research and a geography lesson would help you out.