This lift was the second gondola to open at Icy Strait Point, a private cruise port near Glacier Bay.Both gondolas feature indoor cabin parking at Wilderness Landing.The bottom station.The line features an extremely tall lattice tower.View of Icy Strait.The view just gets better as the ride goes along.Eight segment splice tower.Many of the tower along the steep lift line require blasting and anchors.Towers 7 and 8.Towers 9 and 10.Tower heads on towers 9 and 10.View toward Glacier Bay National Park.Towers 11 and 12.European-style tower heads.Side view of the breakover.Top return station.Tower 13.Unloading area at the summit.View riding down from the summit.Heavily-loaded towers.Two of the shorter towers along the line.This gondola was build alongside a second cruise ship pier as part of a major expansion to Icy Strait Point.View below tower 6.Approaching the lattice tower.Combo assemblies on tower 5.The bottom part of the profile is nearly flat.Another view of tower 5.Lower lift line.T4.A bunch of towers on this lift feature combination assemblies on both sides.View from the base area.The stations are long to accommodate 1,200 feet per minute line speed.Tower 1.Lattice tower.The second tallest tower.The lift gets steeper and steeper as it continues.There are four tall towers in a row near the summit.View down the steepest part of the line.The big breakover.Top station overview.Towers 9-12Another view of the breakover.The lift line seen from sister Transporter gondola.Upper part of the lift line.Looking up at the four breakover towers.Loading area.The steep part of the line.Lift overview.Loading area with cabin parking next door.Side view of the Uni-G station.The lower station with parking rail.Closely-spaced cabins along the line for 2,800 pph capacity.Combo assemblies on tower 4.The lattice beast.View up tower 5.The first few towers.Another view of T5.There are nearly three times as many cabins on this lift as the other Icy Strait Point gondola.Tower 3.T2.Hold down assembly.
I’m sure this is an uniformed comment, but when the line on a lift like this gets to a certain steepness, isn’t there an unusual and significant load on the grip itself? That is to say, rather than just binding the cabin on the line with the line cable itself carrying the brunt of the load, on super steep grades isn’t the grip under “slippage” pressure with a heavily loaded cabin?
Yes, but it’s designed for it. I wouldn’t call it an unusual load. When we rebuild grips, we’re required to conduct a slip test to ensure the grip functions as designed.
Thanks for this great POV of the lift! I love the mounted GoPro on the hanger because you get a great view of the mechanics in the terminal and I’m all about that! And when it entered the terminal it sounded like roller coaster brakes xD.
I just got back from an Alaskan cruise and land tour. I rode this gondi. It is very quiet. I wondered, I didn’t see any press, but is this a D line. The top terminal maintenance man said, Well yes sort of, it’s a DS. Then he spoke about the grips and angle of the rollers. The bottom “main man” said, He’s lying, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. So I don’t think it’s a D line. However, it is impressive. I was told, it replaces a 45 min. bus ride to the summit. I walked over to the 6 cable zip line but didn’t spend the $100 to ride. The video appears to be from early May before Icy Point opened to the public. There are no cruise ships (2 when I was there}. And you see empty line of the other gondi. Also a Dopp built in 2019.
It is not a d-line. It is a Uni-g terminal & lift design. The “kind-of” might refer to a direct drive, but I’m not seeing it. The hp would be something like 1200-1500.
D-Lines differ in a few fundamental ways and a lot of more superficial ones. At the core, they are direct drive, have a new larger rope, new sheaves, have new larger refined Dt grips with some ds elegance, and have a wider line gauge; so different towers/heads/lifting frames. So far they only come as 6 and 8 place chairs, and a variety of gondola cabin sizes. There are D-Lines with custom terminals, so terminal appearance alone isn’t defining although there is a boxy glass covered standard terminal.
On the superficial end, they also have a much more evolved set of carriers. Bucket style seats, easily electrified carriers for heating or even lighting, comfier materials, many more customizable styles and colors, lcd screens on the terminals, etc.
I just checked our Celebrity Cruise list for our late May trip. We paid $62 for two. I do recall what Peter has, but there was a “before cruise discount”.
The zip line was spectacular, but I didn’t want to pay $100. Before the gondi, it was a 45 min. bus ride to the summit and zip line.
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What an awesome lift!!!!!
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I’m sure this is an uniformed comment, but when the line on a lift like this gets to a certain steepness, isn’t there an unusual and significant load on the grip itself? That is to say, rather than just binding the cabin on the line with the line cable itself carrying the brunt of the load, on super steep grades isn’t the grip under “slippage” pressure with a heavily loaded cabin?
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Yes, but it’s designed for it. I wouldn’t call it an unusual load. When we rebuild grips, we’re required to conduct a slip test to ensure the grip functions as designed.
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Any idea how tall that lattice tower is compared to the tall ones on the Silver Queen Gondola at Aspen? This is quite an impressive ropeway
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Here’s a great video of this lift. It can go impressively fast.
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What a great video! Thank you for sharing.
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Thanks for this great POV of the lift! I love the mounted GoPro on the hanger because you get a great view of the mechanics in the terminal and I’m all about that! And when it entered the terminal it sounded like roller coaster brakes xD.
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I just got back from an Alaskan cruise and land tour. I rode this gondi. It is very quiet. I wondered, I didn’t see any press, but is this a D line. The top terminal maintenance man said, Well yes sort of, it’s a DS. Then he spoke about the grips and angle of the rollers. The bottom “main man” said, He’s lying, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. So I don’t think it’s a D line. However, it is impressive. I was told, it replaces a 45 min. bus ride to the summit. I walked over to the 6 cable zip line but didn’t spend the $100 to ride. The video appears to be from early May before Icy Point opened to the public. There are no cruise ships (2 when I was there}. And you see empty line of the other gondi. Also a Dopp built in 2019.
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It’s not a D-Line, just a standard Doppelmayr monocable gondola that features the Uni-G terminal and what I would assume to be the AG-108 grip.
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It is not a d-line. It is a Uni-g terminal & lift design. The “kind-of” might refer to a direct drive, but I’m not seeing it. The hp would be something like 1200-1500.
D-Lines differ in a few fundamental ways and a lot of more superficial ones. At the core, they are direct drive, have a new larger rope, new sheaves, have new larger refined Dt grips with some ds elegance, and have a wider line gauge; so different towers/heads/lifting frames. So far they only come as 6 and 8 place chairs, and a variety of gondola cabin sizes. There are D-Lines with custom terminals, so terminal appearance alone isn’t defining although there is a boxy glass covered standard terminal.
On the superficial end, they also have a much more evolved set of carriers. Bucket style seats, easily electrified carriers for heating or even lighting, comfier materials, many more customizable styles and colors, lcd screens on the terminals, etc.
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How long is the ride?
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I didn’t time it, my guess is 8 – 9 min.
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Was just there – my photo time stamps were exactly 10 minutes apart from top to bottom. Amazing view.
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What was the cost to ride?
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$49.95 this season.
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And the zip line is $100.
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I just checked our Celebrity Cruise list for our late May trip. We paid $62 for two. I do recall what Peter has, but there was a “before cruise discount”.
The zip line was spectacular, but I didn’t want to pay $100. Before the gondi, it was a 45 min. bus ride to the summit and zip line.
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Is there anything to see or do once at the top?
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In addition to the zip line nice views and a pond to walk to.
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Is the only lift in North America with lattice towers, conical towers, and tubular towers?
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SQG is one
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Is there a restroom at the summit?
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Looks like a whole bunch of them. They are circular, wooden and go straight up!
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