Before defining a splice, we must first understand what a ropeway is.

The cable

Diagram of a cable

After patenting (heat treatment by heating and then cooling), pickling and drawing, the wire rod is ready to be stranded.
The strand is the simplest rope assembly: several helical wires are twisted regularly relative to each other in one or more superimposed layers around the strand core, also called the “strand lay length”.

A ropeway is made up of several strands, also wound in a helix around a central core serving as support.

Splicing is the joining of two rope ends to create an endless loop. Its solidity and service life must be similar to ropes made in the factory by extremely precise machines. The definition seems quite simple, but the operation is trickier than it seems. Splicing is considered an art that requires great technical skills, a high level of expertise and a large workforce.

As it is carried out entirely manually, splicing requires rigour and know-how so that the rope connection point is invisible. At this attachment point, the rope must not exceed its nominal diameter by more than 10%.

Splicing requires a large workforce

Grips on fixed systems (chairlifts, roller surface lifts, etc.) can be positioned in the splice area; grips on detachable systems (detachable chairlifts, gondola lifts, surface lifts, transportation of materials) can be coupled in the splice area. In detachable surface lifts, the splice must also pass through the bushings of the grips stored in the drive station.
These are the reasons why the rope in the splice area must meet strict requirements in terms of minimum and maximum diameter, in addition to the criteria of strength and service life.

It is interesting to note that, on older Poma gondola lifts, a radioactive pellet was inserted into the rope in the splice area. Carriers were not coupled in this area.
With the increase in transport capacities, in addition to the problem caused by the insertion of a (weakly) radioactive element into the rope, this solution has become obsolete.

To do this, technicians called “splicers” use needles, or splicers, as well as specific tools for “knitting” between the strands. The proficiency of the splicer is decisive during the critical phases of “marrying” the rope ends and making the knots, during which he or she is assisted by several experienced operators.

Splicing is not restricted to ropeway transport. But in this context, it is done either for installing a new rope loop on which the carriers of a new system will travel, or for changing a rope or shortening it when it has become elongated in an existing installation.
Note that for shortening ropes, the method used is different from splicing. However, the general principles are the same.

The methods differ depending on the rope diameter and construction: ropes with 6 strands (most frequently used), 7 or 8 strands (only a few installations to date, with respect to the number of ropes in service). However, the basic principles and the main steps remain the same.

Step 1: Completely unwinding the rope to make the splice

The rope is transported to the site on huge spools weighing several tonnes. The rope is unwound along the line between the departure station and the arrival station to form a loop on the ground. The two open rope ends are placed side by side to start “marrying” them.

Step 2: Marrying the strands

The operators unlay the strands of the rope, and the two rope ends are then married.
This step is very important because we must not be able to see or feel a difference in diameter between the marriage point and the solid rope excluding the splice for the reasons mentioned above.
To achieve this, the technicians take a rope strand that comes from one end of the rope and replace it with the rope strand that comes from the other end.
There are different marrying techniques depending on the manufacturer, types of ropes and use cases.

The two photos show an alternate marrying technique when starting to interlace the two ropes ends.

There are other techniques, one of which is frequently used for 6-strand ropes: the 3×3 marriage (at the point where the two ends start to be interlaced) then alternated during the following phases as shown below:
There is now only one rope, but the strands still need to be spread out in the splice.

The splicer, supported by the many technicians who assist him or her, spreads out the strands to their final location according to the desired geometry and numbering of the splice knots..

The numbering often adopted for a 6-strand rope is 1.5.3.6.2.4 in the direction of rope movement.

During this operation, the splicer must ensure that the strands are married correctly by using mallets, to maintain a precision equivalent to that achieved by the machines when the rope was originally manufactured.

Step 3: Making the knots

This step consists of removing the plastic core that is inside the rope and then inserting the two strands that will form the knot inside the rope.
This phase is the trickiest: it is at this point that the splicer’s know-how and proficiency will be critical.
The strands must first be straightened to avoid any deformation as they will be inserted inside the rope to replace the core.

At the location of the future knot are the two strands that will form the knot.
The splicer then inserts the first strand into the rope, then the second strand to shape the knot using the splicers.

At the time of Jean Pomagalski, the parallel knot was promoted and defended by POMA. This knot required a little less technical skill and know-how than the cross knot, which is now predominantly used in ropeway transport. However, parallel knots are still found occasionally (old installations, other manufacturers, specific case with cross-lay). The reason is that this type of knot ensures better interlocking of the two strands forming the knot in ropeways with tensions that keep increasing over time (increase in capacities, therefore in the suspended weight and space between towers). At present, the parallel knot is mainly found on surface lifts for which the station staff still make some splices.

The core is removed and fitted to the ends of the retracted strands.

Step 4 : Tensioning the rope

Once the splicing is completed, the two ropes become one.

The tension take up is released.

The splicer then checks the correct geometry of the rope as well as its compliance with the minimum and maximum diameters.
The rope is positioned on the rollers of the roller batteries.

The rope loop is set in motion.
The unwinding and splicing operations stress the rope (handling, twisting, etc.).
This is why the rope must be detensioned. This involves running the bare rope (i.e. without a carrier) at nominal speed for a pre-set number of hours.
In addition, an authorised body also performs an inspection in particular through the magnetography of the rope to detect faults such as rope breakages (internal that are not visible on the outside)
This inspection will determine whether the splice and the entire rope loop is compliant before allowing the safe operation of the installation.

The unwinding and splicing operations stress the rope (handling, twisting, etc.).
This is why the rope must be detensioned. This involves running the bare rope (i.e. without a carrier) at nominal speed for 10 to 25 hours before starting up the system.

Images sources :
• Val Thorens, coulisses epissures
• epissure racourcissement du câble de l’Aiguille du midi 
• Epissure câble télésiège St François Longchamp 
• Epissure câble télécabine de val cenis 2018

BOURG-SAINT-MAURICE

The municipality invested in the renovation of its emblematic funicular railway. The “Arcs Express” offers a direct link between Les Arcs and the railway network in just  7 minutes, 7 days a week.

The new trainsets which have a glass roof and which,thanks to the driver’s station moved to the center of the cabin, offers new panoramic spaces at the front and at the rear for an exceptional view of the valley. 100% electric, for an eco-responsible approach, the municipality of Bourg Saint Maurice also wished to pay particular attention to the integration of the funicular into its environment through an elegant design and careful LED lighting.

L'ALPE D'HUEZ

The Alpe Express already connects the centre of the resort to the ski front, and soon phase 2 of the project will connect the village of Huez. The gondola lift is a zero-particle mode of transport that effectively replaces the traffic handled by numerous road shuttle services previously.

The lift is equipped with the DirectDrive® solution and the Cable Position System, an on-board safety device. This unique mode of transport will be the first peri-urban system to operate without an agent in France.

IN GEORGIA 

A valley lift now connects the resort of Gudauri to the town of Kobi. This infrastructure will also make some snowy areas more accessible, areas that sometimes could not even be reached in June!

LES MENUIRES

For a quick journey to the heart of the three valleys, the 2001 POMA gondola lift connecting Saint-Martin-de-Belleville with the Les Ménuires resort was renovated.

First in terms of its electrics, with the latest advances from SEMER, but also more noticeably for users, since the number of gondolas increased from 48 to 64, for more space and added comfort. Capacity has increased to 2,400 p/h.

IN CHINA

The city of Lianshi, in Guizhou province, wanted to move towards mountain tourism. This is how Meihuashan International Ski Resort was born on the heights of the city, around a 4-season offer, combining winter sports, with the creation of a ski resort, and outdoor sports activities.

POMA then accompanied the economic metamorphosis of Lianshi with the construction of two “Meihuashan Lift” gondolas of nearly 10km which now provide the link between the former mining town and the mountain carrying 1,500 passengers per hour. At the intermediate station, visitors can enjoy the panoramic restaurant, located a stone’s throw from the new cable car.

The second section then takes them to the ski area, hotels and small shops in the resort. New leisure activities within reach of the city, in just a few minutes.

COURCHEVEL

Like the Grangettes gondola lift, the new Le Praz gondola lift and its 47 EVO gondolas featuring LED lighting and equipped with solar panels will link the village of Le Praz, where a car park was recently added, and the centre of Courchevel year-round.

During the world championships, which Courchevel will host in 2023, this ropeway will carry the crowds directly to the foot of the snowshoe trail and will be the main gondola lift during the competition.

PEYRAGUDES

A new gondola lift now connects the village of Loudenvielle to the resort of Peyragudes in less than 9 minutes.

The Skyvall gondola lift is the central feature of a new comprehensive range of tourist activities, in which skiing, hiking, mountain biking and wellness can be combined according to the season, with the appropriate equipment. Another major advantage of this valley lift is that it should reduce car traffic and thus significantly decrease CO2 emissions in the valley.

South Korea, with more than 50 million inhabitants, is a powerhouse of Asia’s economy. POMA and South Korea’s story began almost 40 years ago, when the first ropeways were installed to accompany the development of the ski resorts. The first POMA surface lift was installed in Yongpyong, not only the first but also the largest ski resort in South Korea, created in 1975. Since then, more than 60 POMA lifts have been set up in the Korean ski areas.
This market is now relatively stable, after the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which contributed significantly to the structuring of the mountain landscape. Later, the market reached a turning point in tourism with projects popping up along the Yellow Sea, the Sea of Japan to the east and the Korea Strait in the south, which surrounds 90% of the country. The many cities and metropolises compete with imagination to attract tourists to these beautiful, very rugged coasts, scattered with many islands and popular beaches.

The tourist project inaugurated on 6 September connects the city of Mokpo to the island of Gohado. The link is more than 3 km long and passes through the famous Yudalsan Sculpture Park, where you will find Gatbawi Rock, a site popular with Koreans and international tourists alike. The trip, aboard one of the 55 glass gondolas, is accessible to people with reduced mobility to offer all travellers an unrestricted view of the city, the archipelago and the ocean at an unprecedented and impressive height of almost 150 m at its highest peak, from the highest cement tower ever made in the world.

Another record held by the Mokpo gondola lift: its gondolas fly over the ocean for 1.2 km, making it the longest rope span between two towers in the world for a single-rope device!

The middle station has an angle of 68°. It allows the gondola lift, once the stretch of water has been crossed, to reach the city of Mokpo by flying over Dalseong Park, the 12 monumental sculptures of Yudalsan, the sanctuaries and the numerous hiking paths on this mountain, while preserving this unique site.

Before defining a splice, we must first understand what a ropeway is.

The cable

Diagram of a cable

After patenting (heat treatment by heating and then cooling), pickling and drawing, the wire rod is ready to be stranded.
The strand is the simplest rope assembly: several helical wires are twisted regularly relative to each other in one or more superimposed layers around the strand core, also called the “strand lay length”.

A ropeway is made up of several strands, also wound in a helix around a central core serving as support.

Splicing is the joining of two rope ends to create an endless loop. Its solidity and service life must be similar to ropes made in the factory by extremely precise machines. The definition seems quite simple, but the operation is trickier than it seems. Splicing is considered an art that requires great technical skills, a high level of expertise and a large workforce.

As it is carried out entirely manually, splicing requires rigour and know-how so that the rope connection point is invisible. At this attachment point, the rope must not exceed its nominal diameter by more than 10%.

Splicing requires a large workforce

Grips on fixed systems (chairlifts, roller surface lifts, etc.) can be positioned in the splice area; grips on detachable systems (detachable chairlifts, gondola lifts, surface lifts, transportation of materials) can be coupled in the splice area. In detachable surface lifts, the splice must also pass through the bushings of the grips stored in the drive station.
These are the reasons why the rope in the splice area must meet strict requirements in terms of minimum and maximum diameter, in addition to the criteria of strength and service life.

It is interesting to note that, on older Poma gondola lifts, a radioactive pellet was inserted into the rope in the splice area. Carriers were not coupled in this area.
With the increase in transport capacities, in addition to the problem caused by the insertion of a (weakly) radioactive element into the rope, this solution has become obsolete.

To do this, technicians called “splicers” use needles, or splicers, as well as specific tools for “knitting” between the strands. The proficiency of the splicer is decisive during the critical phases of “marrying” the rope ends and making the knots, during which he or she is assisted by several experienced operators.

Splicing is not restricted to ropeway transport. But in this context, it is done either for installing a new rope loop on which the carriers of a new system will travel, or for changing a rope or shortening it when it has become elongated in an existing installation.
Note that for shortening ropes, the method used is different from splicing. However, the general principles are the same.

Pomagalski did not stop with the conquest of the French peaks. His first inventions quickly generated interest around the world, and many other countries began to order ropeway transport systems.
In the 1960s, Pomagalski SA was the leading supplier of surface lifts and chairlifts in Europe and generated 82% of its turnover through exports: United States, Canada, Middle East, North Africa, but also New Zealand, Australia and South America were turning to POMA inventions.

His business was only at the start of its rise to prominence when Jean Pomagalski passed away on 8 July 8 1969 at Grenoble hospital, in a room with, at his request, a view of the Bastille de Grenoble and its aerial ropeway. A few years later, in 1976, the ropeway was renovated by POMA.

Jean Pomagalski left the reins of his company to Gaston Cathiard, an athlete and mountain lover, just like him. As the new face of POMA, the latter continued its development by following the same vision as its founder: an innovative company that works for the benefit of users and remains resolutely international. In 1977, POMA became the world leader in ropeway transport with 80 gondola lifts, 300 chairlifts and 3,500 surface lifts installed in 39 countries. In 1980, he was succeeded by his son Jean-Pierre Cathiard.