Detatchable chairlifts have always amazed me. They're definitely one of the bigger quality-of-life improvements that alpine skiing has ever seen. Not only do

Detatchable chairlifts have always amazed me. They're definitely one of the bigger quality-of-life improvements that alpine skiing has ever seen. Not only do they let you ski more, but they also help keep you warm (any skier will tell you that the chairlift is always the coldest part) and increase the effective throughput of the lift. The truly amazing thing, though, is the safety record: they have a mechanism to switch from a fast rope to a separate, slow rope and back. This transition (and, indeed, the grip on the rope) manages to have an excellent safety record despite being relatively complicated and dealing with snow and ice.