Bottom terminal in the Revelstoke Village.Another view of the base.Loading platform and future parking rail location.Bottom station and lift line.View down the line.Stage I lift line.View down to the base at tower 4.This lower gondola was initially known as Anticipation to differentiate it from stage II.The lift line with additional capacity upgrade.The two gondola sections connect but are always run separately.Parking area for both the gondolas.Breakover tower with two tubes and three lifting frames.View down the line.The very long middle station.All passengers exit here and continue on to the nearby upper section.View down towards the village.The first few towers.This gondola was built a year after the upper section.Looking up the line.Bottom station.Lift overview.Loading area in the village.
I’m pretty sure it’s permanent. Was here last year and there is a concrete floor that guides the cabins around each turn in the terminals. If they wanted to run it through they would have to reconstruct parts of the terminals.
I’d imagine the gondola is disjointed like this to stop high-altitude winds from closing off access to the lower ski area as well. I’m not sure how long it takes to switch from through-running to lower section only in order to avoid a wind hold, but the time could be significant enough that running cabins through by default might prove impractical.
It’s actually usually more convenient. And most people either park at the upper lot next to the midstation anyways, or only ride it once to get into the upper mtn. The trail map doesn’t do the resort justice, the upper gondi serves almost 3k’, and that’s all most skiers want to lap. Compared to a mid load, it ensures every cabin starts empty at the point most people want the most capacity. Yes, the lower gondi tends to be less filled, and with good liftys you can save empty cabins, but it still means a 10-15% efficiency increase for the upper stage. Which matters when there’s a 20min line. Plus you’re saving the lower gondi from any delays for the begintermediate crowd lapping the notable 900′ of the lower stage.
Thinking it’s more for the download. When I went, it was the lower gondi that had a 30-min line, and the upper had maybe 2 or 3 min, as they transitioned people between stages. It seems that the reality is that almost nobody wants to lap the gondola, especially the lower one because of the poor snow conditions. When they download, two separate lifts are the only way to get down stage 1 from Revelation lodge, or else you would need to go around the entire terminal. Of course, weather and general operations might be easier to keep it two separate lifts.
Revelstoke is weird like that. Some years the good snow goes almost to the valley floor and the gondola is much more popular, some years it’s half of the gondola line and it’s just some days, and in “low snow” years Ripper and Stoke can be fully filled in with great snow while the bare ground is showing up even by the gondola mid station. The cure of a 5k vert mountain. In my years skiing there, lines and crowds definitely varied on snow and some years downloading mattered a lot more than others.
I was there when the snow was all the way to town, but it rained a lot, and it was nuking up top, so the crowds followed, the two HSQ had 10-15 minute lines especially stoke.
I’m told that it took about 30 mins to disconnect or reconnect the lift, so they decided to permanently run it as two separate lifts. You can see in the photo of the mid station the floor between the sections is filled in, so it can never run connected. It’s probably far less inconvenient for the guests to get out and in at mid, than have to wait for it to be disconnected/connected.
Frankly that is a stupid design choice. Why not just build it as two completely separate lifts then. The Top of Stage 1/Base of Stage 2 also looks to be poorly located
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I’ve never seen photos of this gondola with cabins running from stage 1 straight to stage 2.
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As in, occasions where they run cabins through must be very rare, since the floors kinda make me think that’s only special occasions.
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Donald, you’re starting to carry on conversations with yourself🤔😏
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I’m pretty sure it’s permanent. Was here last year and there is a concrete floor that guides the cabins around each turn in the terminals. If they wanted to run it through they would have to reconstruct parts of the terminals.
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Haven’t seen the mid, I think the floors are modular.
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@Mishers, the floors are new and there is now no way to connect stages anymore.
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I didn’t realize the bottom terminal was so low. It must be like 600m above sea level
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They do get that vertical drop somewhere ;)
(510 m elevation also)
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Why are the segments run independently to inconvenience resort patrons?
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I’d imagine the gondola is disjointed like this to stop high-altitude winds from closing off access to the lower ski area as well. I’m not sure how long it takes to switch from through-running to lower section only in order to avoid a wind hold, but the time could be significant enough that running cabins through by default might prove impractical.
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It’s actually usually more convenient. And most people either park at the upper lot next to the midstation anyways, or only ride it once to get into the upper mtn. The trail map doesn’t do the resort justice, the upper gondi serves almost 3k’, and that’s all most skiers want to lap. Compared to a mid load, it ensures every cabin starts empty at the point most people want the most capacity. Yes, the lower gondi tends to be less filled, and with good liftys you can save empty cabins, but it still means a 10-15% efficiency increase for the upper stage. Which matters when there’s a 20min line. Plus you’re saving the lower gondi from any delays for the begintermediate crowd lapping the notable 900′ of the lower stage.
LikeLike
Thinking it’s more for the download. When I went, it was the lower gondi that had a 30-min line, and the upper had maybe 2 or 3 min, as they transitioned people between stages. It seems that the reality is that almost nobody wants to lap the gondola, especially the lower one because of the poor snow conditions. When they download, two separate lifts are the only way to get down stage 1 from Revelation lodge, or else you would need to go around the entire terminal. Of course, weather and general operations might be easier to keep it two separate lifts.
LikeLike
Revelstoke is weird like that. Some years the good snow goes almost to the valley floor and the gondola is much more popular, some years it’s half of the gondola line and it’s just some days, and in “low snow” years Ripper and Stoke can be fully filled in with great snow while the bare ground is showing up even by the gondola mid station. The cure of a 5k vert mountain. In my years skiing there, lines and crowds definitely varied on snow and some years downloading mattered a lot more than others.
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*curse
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I was there when the snow was all the way to town, but it rained a lot, and it was nuking up top, so the crowds followed, the two HSQ had 10-15 minute lines especially stoke.
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I’m told that it took about 30 mins to disconnect or reconnect the lift, so they decided to permanently run it as two separate lifts. You can see in the photo of the mid station the floor between the sections is filled in, so it can never run connected. It’s probably far less inconvenient for the guests to get out and in at mid, than have to wait for it to be disconnected/connected.
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Frankly that is a stupid design choice. Why not just build it as two completely separate lifts then. The Top of Stage 1/Base of Stage 2 also looks to be poorly located
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This is two separate lifts…
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