The Next Four Big Gondolas

Peter Landsman1 Comment
3S-Bahn-02_cmyk
CWA Taris cabin design for the Eiger Express in Grindelwald, Switzerland.

Back in September, I wrote about three new 3S gondolas under construction in Vietnam, Switzerland and Austria.  As reader Michael E. let me know, there are at least four other 3S systems in the pipeline by both Leitner and Doppelmayr that will bring the total number to over twenty. Below is a look at the systems I missed in my last post, all of which happen to be in the same three countries.

Fansipan Cable Car – Sa Pa, Vietnam

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If you look closely, you can see the four tower locations along what will be one of the world’s most spectacular ropeways scaling Mt. Fansipan.

The Fansipan Cable Car is another partnership between Doppelmayr and the Sun Group, which will operate at least five unique ropeways in Vietnam by 2017.  Fansipan is the tallest peak in Southeast Asia at 10,312 feet and the cable car, which has been under construction for the last three years, goes just shy of the summit.  It will slash a two-day trek up the mountain to 15 minutes.  The gondola departs from the town of Sa Pa at 7,000 feet and travels over four towers and 20,063 feet of rugged mountainside.  It will be the world’s longest tri-cable gondola when it opens early next year.  Doppelmayr designed the system with an hourly capacity of 2,000 at a line speed of 8 m/s and with CWA Taris 35-passenger cabins.

https://www.instagram.com/p/-3fyfbQ7dq/?taken-by=darkflames232

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News Roundup: Peak Buys Another

Peter Landsman1 Comment
  • The first non-prototype photos of Doppelmayr’s new detachable terminal that will replace the Uni-G model over the next few years.  It’s certainly different; note the huge windows, Frey controls and stairs instead of ladders on the Kirchenkarbahn’s terminals.  Thanks for the head’s up, snowtirol.
  • Maine’s chief tramway inspector releases his report with pictures on the King Pine rollback and Sugarloaf’s GM responds.  Eight months after the incident, the replacement drive terminal is nearly finished.
  • Doppelmayr Garaventa Group revenue was down 7.5% to $841 million in fiscal 2015 while the company’s global employee headcount rose to 2,546.
  • Still more bad press surrounding Saddleback and the resort’s asking price is down to $9.5 million for 2,000 acres.  Meanwhile Boyne offers passholders in the lurch last spring’s rates on New England Passes.
  • Peak Resorts, the fourth largest operator of lifts in North America, buys Hunter Mountain for $36.8 million.  After the deal closes the publicly-traded company will operate 14 ski resorts with 153 lifts in Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri.
  • Two different models of LPOA chairs going up at Okemo and Purgatory.
  • West Mountain demonstrates an old lift can be new again with help from Leitner-Poma, SkyTrac, Green Mountain Control Systems and Alpine Engineering.
  • They call it ‘The Beast’ for a reason.  Killington opened for skiing on October 19th and is running 240 snow guns nightly, all while flying concrete and adding a mid-station to their Snowdon triple.  The 1973 Heron-Poma is evidently going to stick around for awhile.  Fun fact: Snowdon had a mid-station in nearly the same spot which was removed in 1990.
  • Lutsen’s recently retired Hall Skycruiser gondola cabins sold out in 4 minutes on Cyber Monday for $1200 each.  A new gondy opens to passengers December 11th after a brief delay.  If you missed out on the $1200 gondola cabins, you can still get someone a $150 double chair this holiday season.

Top Ten Lifts with the Most Chairs

Peter Landsman46 Comments

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The average detachable chairlift has 108 carriers while the average fixed grip lift has 103.  Most people would assume the longest lifts have the most carriers but that’s usually not the case.  One of the reasons is longer spacing on detachable chairlifts and gondolas.  Also many long fixed-grip lifts get designed with lower hourly capacities and bigger spacing to save money.  In fact, only one of the top ten lifts with the most chairs is also among the ten longest. Each of the lifts below has more than 200 chairs and, not surprisingly, all but two are fixed-grips.

  1. Cyclone – Sunrise Park Resort, AZ – 352 Yan triple chairs
  2. West Mountain – Sugarloaf, ME – 280 Borvig double chairs
  3. edited to add later: Town – Park City, UT – 264 CTEC triple chairs
  4. Alpine – Copper Mountain, CA – 218 Yan double chairs
  5. Porcupine – Snowbasin, UT – 212 Stadeli triple chairs
  6. Summit – Attitash, NH – 207 CTEC triple chairs
  7. C-Chair – Breckenridge, CO – 206 Riblet triple chairs
  8. A-Chair – Breckenridge, CO – 206 Riblet triple chairs
  9. Snowflake – Breckenridge, CO – 205 Poma double chairs
  10. Northwest Express – Mt. Bachelor, OR – 204 Doppelmayr quad chairs
  11. American Flyer – Copper Mountain, CO – 203 Poma quad chairs

What about gondolas?  There are a bunch of them that stretch two-plus miles.  Even so, no gondolas come close to making this list.  The Sunshine Village Gondola has the most cabins in North America with approximately 175 CWA Omegas and the Whistler Village Gondola comes in at number two with 160 Sigma Diamond cabins.  The average North American gondola has just 74 cabins.

Now, who can guess which lift has the most towers?

Sun Peaks Plans to Double in Size Again

Peter Landsman3 Comments

Sun Peaks is Canada’s second largest mountain resort with 4,270 acres and 360-degrees of ski terrain spread over three mountains.  The biggest of those is Tod Mountain, which was also the original name of the ski area in 1961.  Nippon Cable of Japan purchased the resort in 1992 and doubled its size, adding eight new lifts in nine years and expanding onto Sundance and Morrisey mountains.  Nippon Cable should be a familiar name; the company licenses and sells Doppelmayr technology throughout Japan. Thus Sun Peaks is North America’s largest 100% Doppelmayr mountain.

2015-16-Alpine-Map
Today Sun Peaks operates 9 lifts, all but one of which were built since 1993.

Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners updated the master plan for Sun Peaks Resort in 2013 that aims to expand lift service into new areas and make significant changes to the current lift system.  Many of the proposed changes center around the Top of the World, the ski area’s 6,824-foot summit.  The two lifts that currently end here will be shortened or removed and three new ones added.  The Burfield quad (the world’s longest fixed-grip lift) will be shortened to just above its current mid-station. Primary access to Top of the World will become the Crystal Express, a six-pack replacement of the Crystal triple chair in a new and extended alignment.  A 30-passenger aerial tram is proposed from the top of the Sunburst Express to Top of the World for sightseeing.  A new high speed quad called Sunnyside Express would come from the west and top out near the two other summit lifts.

The West Bowl T-Bar would be replaced with a new, longer version while two of Sun Peaks’ three detachable quads – Sunburst and Sundance – would be replaced with six packs.  The missing link between the village and Mt. Morrisey would finally be added with a new West Morrisey quad chair.

2013masterplanmap

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News Roundup: First Chairs

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  • Hanging carriers at Powderhorn, Snowmass, Sipapu and Lutsen.
  • Leitner-Poma Alpha motor room arrives at Okemo.
  • No lift inspections, no updates and no comment from Maine’s third largest ski resort. The last post on their Facebook page was Oct. 17th.
  • The Balsams will not break ground this year as originally planned but still hopes for a 2016-17 opening with a mix of new and existing lifts.
  • Leitner-Poma would supply a gondola proposed to run from Queenstown to The Remarkables on the South Island of New Zealand.  L-P built The Remarkables’ flagship six-pack “Curvy Basin Express” in 2014.  The new gondola system would span 6.1 miles in two sections and take 27 minutes to ride with a potential opening in 2018.  It would feature an impressive 4,200 foot vertical rise and 140 8-passenger cabins from Sigma.
  • Sunshine Village cuts the ribbon on Canada’s first new bubble chair since 1999.  Tee Pee Town LX (Luxury eXpress) also has the first seat heating in Canada.  Congratulations to Sunshine on completing one of the most modern lift fleets on the continent while others curate lift museums.

News Roundup: Flying Volkswagens

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  • Gunther Jochl, the Austrian-born owner of Sugar Mountain, got the CEOs of both Doppelmayr and CWA to come christen his new six-pack Saturday along with the governor of North Carolina.  Apparently the lift may get gondola cabins in the future.
  • A lawsuit from a homeowner could force the closure of Pennsylvania’s second largest ski resort. Seven Springs Mountain Resort operates two six-packs and eight fixed-grip lifts on 300 acres.  Unfortunately, four of those lifts and 75 percent of the mountain’s ski runs cross a public road that the homeowner wants opened in winter.  There are plenty of other ski resorts that have major highways passing through that close seasonally, including Deer Valley, Bridger Bowl and Mt. Baker.
  • Cherry Peak, the new ski area in Utah, won’t be able to complete their Summit lift in time for this season.  When I was there a few months ago, towers were laying on the ground along the line which will either have to be set or moved elsewhere.  Two other triple chairs and a carpet are set to go.
  • Arizona Snowbowl’s first new lift in 30 years is almost finished.
  • An 8.5 mile gondola system coming to Missouri’s Las Vegas?
  • Bartholet’s aerial tramway across the city of Puebla in Mexico will be finished December 15th, about a year behind schedule.  Speaking of BMF, they have a new website.
  • The Balsams clears some more hurdles but has still yet to break ground.
  • Staying on the mega-resort topic, Hemlock Resort near Chilliwack, BC receives approval to spend $1.5 billion on 23 new lifts and 20,000 lodging beds among other improvements over the next 60 years.  Hemlock currently has a 1977-vintage Doppelmayr triple and two even older Mueller doubles.  Buried in the linked article is the fact that the ski area never opened last year due to lack of snow.

    Hemlock Master Plan rendering from Brent Harley & Associates.
    Hemlock Master Plan rendering from Brent Harley & Associates.