In 2018, The Gondola replaced a high speed quad called Zephyr.As of its opening, The Gondola is tied for the highest capacity gondola in the United States at 3,600 passengers per hour.View down at tower 17.Breakover towers and the top station.A Sigma Diamond 10 skis inside cabin.Cabins passing above tower 15.Looking down at T14.Splice tower near the summit.Tower 12.The middle part of the line.View down at T8.Lower terminal overview.Maze and loading area.Side view of the top terminal.Unloading zone at Sunspot.Top terminal plaza.Rear end of the long LPA terminal.When it opened, this lift was the third with a direct drive in North America.All of the brakes act directly on the bullwheel, as do two small electric evacuation drives when in use.View from the porch.If the power goes out, two generators start up automatically and can power the DirectDrive at normal speed.Cabins turning around up top.The top turnaround.Tower 18 and the cabin maintenance facility.There are 75 cabins plus two spares on this lift.View up from the acceleration area at the bottom.A cabin departs the return terminal.Towers 1 and 2.Another look at the tension return station in The Village.Small maintenance rail at the bottom.As many as 6 cabins can load at once.Tower 3.Lift overview.A busy bottom station seen from above.
I saw the CEO of winter park while standing in line at Eskimo. The CEO (Sky Foulkes) said that they will expand it to lunch rock and once they do they will give the lift a real name. Before the make the expansion they have to replace sunny side.
As a matter of fact, Winter Park just announced that Sunnyside will be replaced with a Leitner-POMA high speed six pack lift. Maybe they’ll expand the Gondola next year!
If there are plans to extend the gondola further up, I ask where on Lunch Rock would they put the unload terminal, as there are spacing constraints to take into consideration.
I saw the CEO again (Sky foulkes) and he took me into the maintenance building and then he took me up into the terminal so I could see the direct drive!
I think in the summer they won’t add additional bike carriers I think they will just raise one of of the seats and leave the other seat down so you can bring your bike into the cabin.
On needles your bike goes in a cabin they hold 2 each and you load the cabin behind it and the operators take it out at top and give it to you when you get there. Might be different at other resorts. The deasonbuilt bike trays have more bike capacity depending how long the lift is.
capacity is so high overall, 1-2 bikes in a cabin works very well. The 10-person cabins can also be loaded with bikes much quicker than a 6 or 8.
at Northstar they have the separate carriers for the relatively small cabins and low(ish) capacity. At Mammoth they have an attendant jam 1-2 bikes in and out of the cabins, as it’s too tight a fit for the public to do without constantly stopping the lift… At WP you load your own, but it’s easy and there’s 4 other cabins around you able to be loaded simultaneously. As it is, from my few weekends and hanfuk of weekdays, lines don’t really form.
Winter Park has really invested a lot of money into their summer offerings. The gondola definitely helped the bike park when it opened back in 2019, cause you could load anywhere from 1-7 bikes into a cabin, where the old Zephy would only have bike racks on every 4th chair. They also spent a lot of money to upgrade the Olympia bike racks to carry 4 instead of 2. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them start running Wild Spur in the summer in the near future, as they are building more and more trails over there. They are also currently replacing the Alpine Slide, which sees super high traffic in the summer.
That’s sad. I like that old lift, and when they replace it, they will add a mid station where the flat part is, bring much more people to the usually powder covered area.
I hope they dont put a midstation because they would have to load every other chair and if both loading stations were crowded it would take forever to get on. I hope they just replace it with a 6 pack with no midstation.
I like the addition of a mid station, because this lift/terrain is very underutilized, and the higher slopes without the hike would be a major draw. WP needs to distribute crowds better.
I really hope they do that. It would make getting from Lunch Rock to Sunspot a hell of a lot more convenient. The least they could do at this point is give it a real name, like the Apollo or Columbia gondola.
I asked a lift Mechanic when I went this past week, they said that the top station building is a cabin maintenance facility and the bottom was a pump house for the new snowmaking equipment that they redesigned during the summer while adding the gondola. I even saw that when the door was open, there were huge pipes inside that were most likely water pipes.
This is a perfectly capable lift, but it’s such a bummer the windows don’t go floor-to-ceiling. It just looks super cheap. This is a shame because it’s a brand new, direct-drive, signature out-of-base lift. I’m super curious what the motivation for that was (probably cost?). Also, it’s short-sighted not to have equipment racks … all those skis (and bikes) scuffing up the interior.
I’m not sure Sigma offers a floor-to-ceiling window option. Looking at how the cabins are put together (we have the same model) it could be a safety thing- the aluminum panels at the bottom are firmly secured to the frame while the windows are designed to be removed and replaced. The exterior ski racks are nice, but some skis and snowboards don’t fit in them. WP may have opted not to have them installed if they weren’t going to be utilised much.
Was looking through the pictures of Gondola One at Vail and some had noted in the comments that it has larger Leitner-style sheave assemblies that clamp onto the crossarm rather than mount inside of the crossarm box tube. Came over to this lift and it looks like it has the regular LPOA sheave assemblies instead. Seems strange to me, since both lifts have the same size cabin and same capacity (so theoretically similar spacing)… anybody know why there is a difference? Just different rope diameter, or something else?
I think it’s a different size rope because of the distance between each tower, larger cabin spacing and larger shelves are helping relieve the stress off the rope also. The cabin spacing at vail is lower because of the larger cabin spacing, the capacity is lower than WP gondola.
Most of those types of labels come from the original lift proposals, which are finished well before marketing gets ahold of the lift. I’ve used our H-quad as an example before.
Because glass breaks. We have to remove snow from them by tapping them from the inside, and that’s not a great technique when paired with glass windows. The end windows and sliding doors are glass, however.
It’s not just LPOA; Doppelmayr’s windows are also plexiglass.
Lift Blog 
The Evac’s are not hydro static, they are electric.
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I updated the caption. Thanks Brady!
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Why is does the glass not go all the way to the floor?
why no ski racks outside?
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I have been wondering the same thing
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me as well, the inside and outside of the cabins are already shot only 4 years later
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Does anyone know if this lift was designed to be extended to Lunch Rock?
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I don’t know. There was a rumor about it back before it was built, but I doubt it’s happening.
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yes it actually is I believe, at least according to the main winter park comments section.
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Judging by the top terminal setup I would think not.
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I saw the CEO of winter park while standing in line at Eskimo. The CEO (Sky Foulkes) said that they will expand it to lunch rock and once they do they will give the lift a real name. Before the make the expansion they have to replace sunny side.
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As a matter of fact, Winter Park just announced that Sunnyside will be replaced with a Leitner-POMA high speed six pack lift. Maybe they’ll expand the Gondola next year!
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god no don’t ruin the jane by putting a gondola to LR. There are already too many texans on Jane, we dont need more
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Well nope, they did not expand the gondola, probs due to Covid-19
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If there are plans to extend the gondola further up, I ask where on Lunch Rock would they put the unload terminal, as there are spacing constraints to take into consideration.
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I saw the CEO again (Sky foulkes) and he took me into the maintenance building and then he took me up into the terminal so I could see the direct drive!
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Did you take any pictures?
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I think in the summer they won’t add additional bike carriers I think they will just raise one of of the seats and leave the other seat down so you can bring your bike into the cabin.
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On needles your bike goes in a cabin they hold 2 each and you load the cabin behind it and the operators take it out at top and give it to you when you get there. Might be different at other resorts. The deasonbuilt bike trays have more bike capacity depending how long the lift is.
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capacity is so high overall, 1-2 bikes in a cabin works very well. The 10-person cabins can also be loaded with bikes much quicker than a 6 or 8.
at Northstar they have the separate carriers for the relatively small cabins and low(ish) capacity. At Mammoth they have an attendant jam 1-2 bikes in and out of the cabins, as it’s too tight a fit for the public to do without constantly stopping the lift… At WP you load your own, but it’s easy and there’s 4 other cabins around you able to be loaded simultaneously. As it is, from my few weekends and hanfuk of weekdays, lines don’t really form.
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Winter Park has really invested a lot of money into their summer offerings. The gondola definitely helped the bike park when it opened back in 2019, cause you could load anywhere from 1-7 bikes into a cabin, where the old Zephy would only have bike racks on every 4th chair. They also spent a lot of money to upgrade the Olympia bike racks to carry 4 instead of 2. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them start running Wild Spur in the summer in the near future, as they are building more and more trails over there. They are also currently replacing the Alpine Slide, which sees super high traffic in the summer.
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The plan is after they replace sunnyside they will replace pioneer.
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That’s sad. I like that old lift, and when they replace it, they will add a mid station where the flat part is, bring much more people to the usually powder covered area.
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It’s unlikely they’ll ever put a midstation on that.
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Actually that is precisely the plan
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I hope they dont put a midstation because they would have to load every other chair and if both loading stations were crowded it would take forever to get on. I hope they just replace it with a 6 pack with no midstation.
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A mid-load station would be fantastic… going over to Pioneer is always painful because of how flat the lower section is.
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I like the addition of a mid station, because this lift/terrain is very underutilized, and the higher slopes without the hike would be a major draw. WP needs to distribute crowds better.
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They might move the top terminal if they extend to LR. And put in a mid-station where the top terminal currently stands.
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That’s what I’m thinking. Move the top terminal to Lunch Rock, and install a new midstation at Sunspot. That seems pretty straight forward.
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I really hope they do that. It would make getting from Lunch Rock to Sunspot a hell of a lot more convenient. The least they could do at this point is give it a real name, like the Apollo or Columbia gondola.
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Hey Peter, did you get any photos of the Cabin Maintenance Facility on both Terminals???
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Peter?
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There is only one cabin maintenance facility and its at the top. The building at the bottom is storage and other stuff for the gondola.
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I asked a lift Mechanic when I went this past week, they said that the top station building is a cabin maintenance facility and the bottom was a pump house for the new snowmaking equipment that they redesigned during the summer while adding the gondola. I even saw that when the door was open, there were huge pipes inside that were most likely water pipes.
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This is a perfectly capable lift, but it’s such a bummer the windows don’t go floor-to-ceiling. It just looks super cheap. This is a shame because it’s a brand new, direct-drive, signature out-of-base lift. I’m super curious what the motivation for that was (probably cost?). Also, it’s short-sighted not to have equipment racks … all those skis (and bikes) scuffing up the interior.
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I’m not sure Sigma offers a floor-to-ceiling window option. Looking at how the cabins are put together (we have the same model) it could be a safety thing- the aluminum panels at the bottom are firmly secured to the frame while the windows are designed to be removed and replaced. The exterior ski racks are nice, but some skis and snowboards don’t fit in them. WP may have opted not to have them installed if they weren’t going to be utilised much.
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I think sigma offers them. Gondola 1 at Vail has floor to ceiling windows.
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I stand corrected.
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What is the little triangle with a serrated top under the cabin opening mechanism used for?
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It’s a step for if we have to evacuate the cabins individually. It’s tough to get down from the haul rope to the cabin roof without it.
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Was looking through the pictures of Gondola One at Vail and some had noted in the comments that it has larger Leitner-style sheave assemblies that clamp onto the crossarm rather than mount inside of the crossarm box tube. Came over to this lift and it looks like it has the regular LPOA sheave assemblies instead. Seems strange to me, since both lifts have the same size cabin and same capacity (so theoretically similar spacing)… anybody know why there is a difference? Just different rope diameter, or something else?
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I think it’s a different size rope because of the distance between each tower, larger cabin spacing and larger shelves are helping relieve the stress off the rope also. The cabin spacing at vail is lower because of the larger cabin spacing, the capacity is lower than WP gondola.
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According to the Label on the Tension Pump, this lift is registered with Leitner-Poma under the name of “Zephyr”.
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I think they were thinking of the name to stay zephyr but WP changed it after the sticker was changed, I dunno, I could be wrong
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Most of those types of labels come from the original lift proposals, which are finished well before marketing gets ahold of the lift. I’ve used our H-quad as an example before.
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Is H-lift the now Woodward Express that was originally Union Creek replacing High Point?
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Yup. Both the manufacturer’s plaque in the lift shack as well as the lift manual say Highpoint Express.
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HAHAHAHA. THE NAME IS A JOKE. From Zephyr Express to…….. THE GONDOLA.
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Not sure when it happened, but I believe that the first two towers got catwalks in the past few years.
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November 2021.
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Anyone have insight as to why this does not load to 10 passengers?
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Hey guys, I’m writing a novel and need to know if it’s glass in the windows or plexiglass?
Thanks in advance,
Leslie Ann Sartor
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Plexiglass, except for the tilt-in ventilation windows up high.
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Do you know why L-P would install plexiglass over glass on their LPA terminals?
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Pretty sure they are referring to the cabins themselves. It’s definitely glass in the terminal. Could be wrong, John would definitely know.
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Because glass breaks. We have to remove snow from them by tapping them from the inside, and that’s not a great technique when paired with glass windows. The end windows and sliding doors are glass, however.
It’s not just LPOA; Doppelmayr’s windows are also plexiglass.
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The gondola windows, I want them to be shot out and have dangerous shards
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If you’re going for realism, the gondola cabin windows are impact-resistant plexiglass. No shards there.
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Well, I guess, I can use the end windows, right? Somebody said they were glass?
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Well, my town is fictional, and yes, while I would like to be as correct as possible, I need this murder to take place in the gondola from outside.
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@PBR Not with that attitude. Anything’s possible with enough hammers and yelling.
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Funny that they claim this is a 10 person gondola when at most only 7 or 8 adults can fit in.
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It is a 10 person gondola, we just don’t load 10.
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