Balancing trail with lift design

Abstract

This paper reviews different methods for estimating trail capacities for winer sports and summer use of lift served Alpine areas. It offers some rules of thumb for synchronizing uphill and downhill capacity with the aim of retaining high recreation quality. Three different points of view are represented: 1) Justification of seasonal or peak demand for lift capacity, 2) The waiting line concept, 3) Preservation of a comfortable carrying capacity of trails at traffic bottlenecks. More recent research conducted in Austria on the subject is reviewed to analyze the complex skier and snowboarder traffic relationship. Expectations have changed and goals for matching these capacities are the subject of discussion. It appears that with better grooming and snowmaking, trails can endure higher traffic; however, high-speed and high-capacity lifts raise the traffic flow. Some useful guidelines are summarized to dimension trails to fit lift capacity. During summer, trail capacities are normally less significant. It is possible to estimate the hiking, biking and other trail carrying capacity based on the social space, using group size, distance or departure interval and pace. By including the simpler summer traffic in the discussion, the variables of comfort and choice are explained in a general form.