TL;DW: Most ski lifts use a clamp that attaches to the side of the rope, allowing the rope to have rollers pass on the top, bottom, and other side, but not the

TL;DW: Most ski lifts use a clamp that attaches to the side of the rope, allowing the rope to have rollers pass on the top, bottom, and other side, but not the side with the clamp. This means you can't make tight turns towards the side with the clamp. Instead of making a thinner clamp that can go through the rollers as I would have expected, they used two ropes with a hinge from which the "seat" (t-bar) hangs. That way, they can put either the left or the right rope on top, causing the "clamp" part to be on the left/right accordingly, allowing turns in both directions.