End of the ski lift? Amazon patents drone which can drag skiers up mountains using a tow handle 

Amazon has patented a drone which could replace the ski lift by dragging skiers up a mountain using a tow handle.

The system works by attaching a retractable rope to a drone, which could be summoned using a smart phone.

A person’s location would be sent to the drone from their phone, and a rope would be lowered for the skier wishing to travel top of the slope. 

A tow handle would be attached to the end of the rope so that the skier can hold on while the drone flies slowly.   

Once the skier arrives at the top of the ski slope, the rope retracts and the drone flies away to be used another time. 

Amazon wrote in the patent filing that an extreme skier may use this system to ‘reach a remote area or to customise their experience’. 

This means they could use it when going ‘off a designated run and for reaching fresh powder’.  

The document also suggests that the drone tow handle could also be used for water-skiing or skateboarding according to The Telegraph. 

The decision to patent a drone tow handle system doesn’t guarantee that Amazon will produce it, and it is not the first company to investigate this option.

 In 2016, Samsung sponsored a video where YouTube star Casey Neistat used a drone to snowboard up a mountain.