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Rotation ski lift of Davos-Bolgen, patent Constam, built 1934First „T-bar“ ski lift in the world“Tow cable-railways, the so-called “skilifts”, are contrivances which by means of a rotary cable, tow the skier standing on his skis up the mountain slope”. This was the official description in the Article 1 of the technical rules laid down for this form of transport by the Federal Department of Transport in the nineteen-thirties. On 26th December 1934 the first such skilift in the world went into service on the Bolgen near Davos. The constructor, the engineer E. Constam in Zürich had used as his model a towlift with safety harness that was already in use in 1906 in Schollach (Black Forest) as the so-called “Paternoster Ski Train”. Constam designed his Bolgen lift with bow shaped armrests which were supposed to be hold tight under the arms. But the Davos ski school head, Ettinger, suggested that in would be more comfortable as well as safer to replace the armrests by a simple T-bar design, which was in fact developed by Constam, and as a double saddle taking two persons at once.During 37 years the Bolgen lift carried out its functions to the complete satisfaction of all who used it. The lift was power driven from the valley station while the tension and brace mechanism of the endless winding cable was in the mountain station.
  • Cableways

  • Rotation ski lift of Davos-Bolgen, patent Constam, built 1934
    First „T-bar“ ski lift in ...

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  • Rotation ski lift of Davos-Bolgen, patent Constam, built 1934
    First „T-bar“ ski lift in the world

    “Tow cable-railways, the so-called “skilifts”, are contrivances which by means of a rotary cable, tow the skier standing on his skis up the mountain slope”. This was the official description in the Article 1 of the technical rules laid down for this form of transport by the Federal Department of Transport in the nineteen-thirties. On 26th December 1934 the first such skilift in the world went into service on the Bolgen near Davos. The constructor, the engineer E. Constam in Zürich had used as his model a towlift with safety harness that was already in use in 1906 in Schollach (Black Forest) as the so-called “Paternoster Ski Train”. Constam designed his Bolgen lift with bow shaped armrests which were supposed to be hold tight under the arms. But the Davos ski school head, Ettinger, suggested that in would be more comfortable as well as safer to replace the armrests by a simple T-bar design, which was in fact developed by Constam, and as a double saddle taking two persons at once.
    During 37 years the Bolgen lift carried out its functions to the complete satisfaction of all who used it. The lift was power driven from the valley station while the tension and brace mechanism of the endless winding cable was in the mountain station.
  • Inventory No.VHS-9107
  • Original/modelOriginale Nachbildung (1:1), Original-Fahrzeug
  • Object typeObject (three-dimensional)
  • Manufacturer/operatorConstam Ernst (1888 - 1965), Manufacturer, archivalisch belegt
    Schweizer Ski-Schule Davos (*1932), Operator or user, archivalisch belegt
  • GeographyTerritory: Davos-Bolgen
  • DatingIn Betrieb: 1934-1971
  • Object weightL x B x H Masten: 150 x 250 x 290 cm
    L x B x H Sockel: 300 x 150 x 51 cm
  • Number of passengers350
  • Power (kW)18
  • Top speed (km/h)8
  • Range (km)0.270