The Glenwood Gondola replaced a fixed grip pulse gondola in 2019.The bottom and top terminal locations are the same and many towers were reused from the old lift.Most of the lift line seen from the opposite side of Glenwood Canyon.The bottom terminal is directly next to Interstate 70.Two of the three towers that are new for this lift, 1 and 1A.Tower 1.View up at T2.32 sheaves on one tower!View up from the bottom terminal location.A cabin departing for Iron Mountain.Return control pedestal.Loading area.The line passes below some power lines around tower 4.Inside a brand new Sigma cabin.A three section splice tower.Breakover towers.The upper part of the line is relatively flat.Nearing the summit amusement park.The top terminal is sandwiched between two buildings.Turnaround up top.Looking down on a Sigma cabin.Motor room.The last tower was built new for this lift.A cabin above the City of Glenwood Springs.Upper part of the line.Looking inside a six passenger cabin.The building to the left of the terminal will house cabin maintenance when completed.Cabin nameplate.View down at T9.Small stub rail at the bottom station.Because this lift is a gondola, the tensioning system is located within the terminal. On most other LPA lifts, the entire terminal moves.Another view of tower 1.Looking up the line.Towers 4-10.A very tall tower 3.Lower station area.
LPA terminals have the opening/closing rails located in the terminals now, so the lever is higher up near the grip. Older terminals had the rails below the terminal underskin.
600fpm as to avoid the install of CPS sensors which are required over 600fpm in Colorado. Also, it allowed the terminals to be a shorter length which was critically for the fit. The reason for the monster depress is the relatively steep angle that had to be achieved to clear the parking lot. And one more random fact is that tower two got a height adjustment for the new profile as you can tell from the different shade of gray.
They are high speed quad length with gondola height.
And yes, capacity much better then the pulse. There were a few instances when I ran it at a 1,000fpm, it really flew into the terminal. Couple that with a 75-80fpm load speed and you’d have a 7 minute ride. Depending on how fast the cashiers worked, kept the line down for a bit.
The terminals look like they are high speed quad length, but with an internal tension carriage instead of the whole thing being on rollers. The 600 feet per minute line speed isn’t a problem at all since the lift is not used for skiing, so ride time does not matter as much. Probably is still faster than the pulse version that stopped multiple times each trip even though it could technically go 1000.
That’s the same terminal as we have on the Flyer. A separate internal carriage eliminates having to move the load area on a contour-load chairlift like ours, and a gondola with its guidage in the ground like this one obviously can’t have the terminal move.
John the gondola’s return the same length as flyers but the line gage is narrower, it’s the same line gage as a quad. The lift can’t go 1000fpm as the drive is very short for a gondola riders would have to sprint on
Can they eventually add more capacity to this lift? Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park recently announced a new record breaking roller coaster that could attract more people to the park thus adding a need for more capacity in the future.
It’s a neat little amusement park but there is nothing record breaking about their new coaster. They claim it is the steepest drop in the western US at 102° beyond vertical, but Cannibal at Lagoon, Utah is 116° beyond vertical. Parks lie about coaster superlatives all the time.
Late answer but if you see this the current 44 is the max allowed cabins and therefore capacity on the line. When it first opened it was 26 cabins but during late construction is was decided to go for the max and they were added a couple months later after they arrived.
They are ‘Pull down anchors’. There is a piece of steel with a hole in it and it is used as an attachment for rigging to pull the haul rope down for tower maintenance.
I used to come here all the time back when this gondola was still a pulse. Does anyone remember how many sets of three cabins were on the pulse? I’m thinking with the length of the lift line at least 6 sets of three cabins each
Final total was six pulses. It originally started at four pulses of two, a few years later a cabin was added to each pulse for four pulses of three. Sometime in the early 10’s the final two pulses were added. The final total represents the max hourly capacity of the lift. It was designed to handle more pulses but you would loose hourly capacity due to additional stops.
Fun fact you could tell which were the original cabins as all later cabins had a different floor pattern.
Lift Blog 
How do the doors close on this gondola? I don’t see one of the traditional metal things that closes the door.
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The door lever is located higher up on the hangar just below the grip. Normally they are about halfway up the hangar.
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LPA terminals have the opening/closing rails located in the terminals now, so the lever is higher up near the grip. Older terminals had the rails below the terminal underskin.
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The only towers that are all-new are towers 1, 1A, and 17.
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whats the top line speed?
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600fpm as to avoid the install of CPS sensors which are required over 600fpm in Colorado. Also, it allowed the terminals to be a shorter length which was critically for the fit. The reason for the monster depress is the relatively steep angle that had to be achieved to clear the parking lot. And one more random fact is that tower two got a height adjustment for the new profile as you can tell from the different shade of gray.
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Those terminals look more like they’re designed for a high speed quad than for a gondola.
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They are high speed quad length with gondola height.
And yes, capacity much better then the pulse. There were a few instances when I ran it at a 1,000fpm, it really flew into the terminal. Couple that with a 75-80fpm load speed and you’d have a 7 minute ride. Depending on how fast the cashiers worked, kept the line down for a bit.
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The terminals look like they are high speed quad length, but with an internal tension carriage instead of the whole thing being on rollers. The 600 feet per minute line speed isn’t a problem at all since the lift is not used for skiing, so ride time does not matter as much. Probably is still faster than the pulse version that stopped multiple times each trip even though it could technically go 1000.
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There’s the tradeoff of loading happening at a continuous rate.
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That’s the same terminal as we have on the Flyer. A separate internal carriage eliminates having to move the load area on a contour-load chairlift like ours, and a gondola with its guidage in the ground like this one obviously can’t have the terminal move.
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John the gondola’s return the same length as flyers but the line gage is narrower, it’s the same line gage as a quad. The lift can’t go 1000fpm as the drive is very short for a gondola riders would have to sprint on
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FYI the grip bay building was finished this year.
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Can they eventually add more capacity to this lift? Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park recently announced a new record breaking roller coaster that could attract more people to the park thus adding a need for more capacity in the future.
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It’s a neat little amusement park but there is nothing record breaking about their new coaster. They claim it is the steepest drop in the western US at 102° beyond vertical, but Cannibal at Lagoon, Utah is 116° beyond vertical. Parks lie about coaster superlatives all the time.
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Late answer but if you see this the current 44 is the max allowed cabins and therefore capacity on the line. When it first opened it was 26 cabins but during late construction is was decided to go for the max and they were added a couple months later after they arrived.
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What are the 2 concrete foundations under tower 1 for?
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They are ‘Pull down anchors’. There is a piece of steel with a hole in it and it is used as an attachment for rigging to pull the haul rope down for tower maintenance.
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So it’s used like a lifting frame?
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Sorta. Same concept, you could say.
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600fpm is slow for a gondola. However, sprinting on would be hard.
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Lmao look at the jeep in pic 4
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I used to come here all the time back when this gondola was still a pulse. Does anyone remember how many sets of three cabins were on the pulse? I’m thinking with the length of the lift line at least 6 sets of three cabins each
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Final total was six pulses. It originally started at four pulses of two, a few years later a cabin was added to each pulse for four pulses of three. Sometime in the early 10’s the final two pulses were added. The final total represents the max hourly capacity of the lift. It was designed to handle more pulses but you would loose hourly capacity due to additional stops.
Fun fact you could tell which were the original cabins as all later cabins had a different floor pattern.
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