Track rope bollards at the Whistler drive terminal.Drive shaft and departure side at Whistler Station.Tower 2 with evacuation equipment.Looking back at Whistler Mountain and towers 1-2.The span between towers 2 and 3 is 1.88 miles.CWA 20-passenger cabin with leather seats.Slack carrier #21.Tower 3 on Blackcomb.Cabin parking at Blackcomb Station.Departure side on Blackcomb.Tower 4 and two cabins passing.Blackcomb Station from the outside.Inside the return terminal.Tower 4 and the station at Blackcomb’s Rendezvous.Tower 3 with evacuation gear.Another look at the big span.Tower 1 and crossing over Emerald Express.Outside view of cabin 20.Turnaround tire countour.Departure side at Whistler.View from Whistler towards Blackcomb.The drive station at Whistler’s Roundhouse.Tower 2 from below.You can ski right through the larger towers.Another shot of T2.Tower 1 saddles on Whistler.Looking into the drive station.Blackcomb Station during winter operations.The portion that is highest above ground seen from above.Tower 3.Lift line seen from Blackcomb.A cabin above Whistler Mountain.
That is one huge lift. My question is. How do they get the gondolas into the garages without them dragging on the floor? The level walk in platforms would be a issue because there is no trench for the gondolas to go when heading for the parking rails.
When the cabins are removed from the main contour to go on to the parking rails, a section of the contour lifts up with the cabin on it and then rotates to line up with the parking rails which are raised up a foot or two higher than the contour, allowing the cabins to move without hitting the floor. You can find videos on Youtube
The evac system consists of a “bike”, crane and winch. The bikes are stored low in the centre of the towers. The cranes on top of the towers lift the bikes and swing them out over the track ropes and place them on the saddle. The winch cable is hooked up to the bike and then the bike is lowered to the first cabin. The bike is attached to the cabin and the cabin grip is released. The winch hauls the cabin and bike back to the tower. The guests are lowered to the ground from here. Once the cabin is empty the bike is lifted over the cabin and placed back on the track ropes. The empty cabin is hauled up the saddle out of the way by a small winch. Rinse and repeat until all cabins are empty. Each crew needs to recover 4 or 5 cabins.
I remember seeing a documentary of this being built on youtube, I don’t have the link but just search peak 2 peak documentary. I’m pretty sure that has some footage of it
I bet its a big winch on the cranes that swings out on both sides and hauls passengers on a mini gondola/basket. They look like they are stored on the middle of the upper part of the tower. I find it interesting how they get it up on the track rope. There is also some sort of zip line looking thing with no cable hanging off the middle of the top of the tower. The cranes dont look like they extend but there is a rail that I think moves the winch along the crane arm underneath. There also small yellow bullwheels on the tower 3 picture
There also seems to be what looks like a place to unload in the middle of tower three. See it? At least I thing that is what it is. I’m not sure how exactly the are supposed to detach the carrier from the line though
Why did intrawest spend $38 million on a 3s instead of just putting in 2 six packs in the canyon (see map)? Not only would it have been cheaper, but it also would have added tons of new terrain.
In addition to what powderforever45 said, the valley also has little cover during low snow years and the base does not last nearly as far into the spring.
There were proposals with up to 4 lifts coming down into the valley but the Whistler Blackcomb lift manager wanted a single lift and they needed a 3S because of wind.
I have never been to Whistler Blackomb, so take this with a grain of salt, but there could be a lot of wind problems. I’m not too familiar with 3s gondolas, but they might be designed to be more resistant to wind? I’m not 100% sure to be honest with you.
Whistler gets lots of rain. A motiviation of P2P was to eliminate the need to descend into the rainy valley. The lower about one third of both mountains rarely has good snow conditions
like someone below said rarely any snow lower down the terrain is very steep with lots of cliffs would have cost a lot to make it skiable for the average skier both lifts would have needed a big download capacity.IE,it would have been more expensive than the 3S
If they were to build six place chairlifts in those two routes, they would probably be among the longest in North America, also that Valley is known for having hurricane force winds.
Are there any comparable lifts to the P2P in North America? Not only is this an early 3S, it’s unsupported span broke the world record for longest and highest on a lift of this type when it was built for the Olympics. I remember some outcry about how expensive this project was initially, but everyone loves it now afaik
in the cabins there where little stickers saying the capacity was 4100PPH, im assuming that is the theoretical capacity with the maximum amount of cabins?
Just created a cool video of the Peak 2 Peak gondola running and operating from the Drive Terminal on Whistler Mountain. It features video for the first 8 minutes, and a nice soundtrack of the ropeway running after that. Enjoy!
Lift Blog 
That is one huge lift. My question is. How do they get the gondolas into the garages without them dragging on the floor? The level walk in platforms would be a issue because there is no trench for the gondolas to go when heading for the parking rails.
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When the cabins are removed from the main contour to go on to the parking rails, a section of the contour lifts up with the cabin on it and then rotates to line up with the parking rails which are raised up a foot or two higher than the contour, allowing the cabins to move without hitting the floor. You can find videos on Youtube
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i know that from winter resort simulator
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How does the Evac gear work? Do the cranes swing cabins to the center?
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The evac system consists of a “bike”, crane and winch. The bikes are stored low in the centre of the towers. The cranes on top of the towers lift the bikes and swing them out over the track ropes and place them on the saddle. The winch cable is hooked up to the bike and then the bike is lowered to the first cabin. The bike is attached to the cabin and the cabin grip is released. The winch hauls the cabin and bike back to the tower. The guests are lowered to the ground from here. Once the cabin is empty the bike is lifted over the cabin and placed back on the track ropes. The empty cabin is hauled up the saddle out of the way by a small winch. Rinse and repeat until all cabins are empty. Each crew needs to recover 4 or 5 cabins.
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How long would this take with a full line? Is there any footage of it being tested?
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I remember seeing a documentary of this being built on youtube, I don’t have the link but just search peak 2 peak documentary. I’m pretty sure that has some footage of it
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I bet its a big winch on the cranes that swings out on both sides and hauls passengers on a mini gondola/basket. They look like they are stored on the middle of the upper part of the tower. I find it interesting how they get it up on the track rope. There is also some sort of zip line looking thing with no cable hanging off the middle of the top of the tower. The cranes dont look like they extend but there is a rail that I think moves the winch along the crane arm underneath. There also small yellow bullwheels on the tower 3 picture
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There also seems to be what looks like a place to unload in the middle of tower three. See it? At least I thing that is what it is. I’m not sure how exactly the are supposed to detach the carrier from the line though
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You forgot to show the 2 gray glass bottom cabins.
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Why did intrawest spend $38 million on a 3s instead of just putting in 2 six packs in the canyon (see map)? Not only would it have been cheaper, but it also would have added tons of new terrain.
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In addition to what powderforever45 said, the valley also has little cover during low snow years and the base does not last nearly as far into the spring.
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There were proposals with up to 4 lifts coming down into the valley but the Whistler Blackcomb lift manager wanted a single lift and they needed a 3S because of wind.
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I have never been to Whistler Blackomb, so take this with a grain of salt, but there could be a lot of wind problems. I’m not too familiar with 3s gondolas, but they might be designed to be more resistant to wind? I’m not 100% sure to be honest with you.
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Whistler gets lots of rain. A motiviation of P2P was to eliminate the need to descend into the rainy valley. The lower about one third of both mountains rarely has good snow conditions
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tourism and attraction for tourists
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like someone below said rarely any snow lower down the terrain is very steep with lots of cliffs would have cost a lot to make it skiable for the average skier both lifts would have needed a big download capacity.IE,it would have been more expensive than the 3S
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If they were to build six place chairlifts in those two routes, they would probably be among the longest in North America, also that Valley is known for having hurricane force winds.
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Are there any comparable lifts to the P2P in North America? Not only is this an early 3S, it’s unsupported span broke the world record for longest and highest on a lift of this type when it was built for the Olympics. I remember some outcry about how expensive this project was initially, but everyone loves it now afaik
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it wasn’t built for the olympics it was finished and opened in the olympic year
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heres the vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAJmxe27h0
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How far is the cabin spacing?
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About 350m. It depends a bit on how many cabins we have on line.
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Just curious, do you work at Whistler?
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Yes. For 30 years.
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in the cabins there where little stickers saying the capacity was 4100PPH, im assuming that is the theoretical capacity with the maximum amount of cabins?
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How many cabins in total are on this?
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28, 2 have glass panels in the floor.
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Cabin #23 has an indigenous piece of art wrapped around on it (no glass bottom).
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Just created a cool video of the Peak 2 Peak gondola running and operating from the Drive Terminal on Whistler Mountain. It features video for the first 8 minutes, and a nice soundtrack of the ropeway running after that. Enjoy!
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