Summit Terminal Work Continues at Sunday River

For those of you following the ongoing saga that is the installation of the Sunday River Chondola, or as I like to call it, The Viking Express, the resort has taken some major steps in preparing for the Doppelmayr parts to arrive next month. Check out the Chondola Page at Sunday River for tons of info and the latest pics, which show a lot of blasting needed for the top terminal. Perhaps I'm even steal a picture from the site and post it on here as long as AK and co dont' sue me!

A slow year for eastern installs

As summers go, it's a slow year for lift installations in the eastern United States. While there are many trail and snowmaking projects going on all over the region this year, only two brand new lifts are being installed in New England and no major trail network expansions. Whereas I don't think this means a decline in the industry, (the numbers were up across the board last season) the strong focus on snowmaking upgrades as opposed to terrain and lift expansion is certainly less exciting. New England is seeing two new lifts this summer. Killington is replacing a fixed grip quad with a new Doppelmayr HSQ and as we know, Sunday River is hard at work on the Chondola, which will be the only newly routed lift in the region this year.

Sunday River's Chondola Site Gets Major Upgrade

Constant and consistent improvement is a top priority at both Boyne USA and Sunday River Resort. A cool reminder of this is with the resort’s very new website dedicated to the building of the Sunday River Chondola. Formally, this site was a blog only and was called the Chondalog, but under the guidance of Alex Kaufman it has been transformed into a much more diverse and extensive website, which has multiple pages to include videos, blog updates, technical data and drawing, as well as a photo gallery. You can get to this site by accessing through the Sunday River website or visit chondola.com for more info.

Sunday River's "Chondola" blog is up and running

With construction under way at Sunday River, Maine for the new hybrid lift, or "Chondola," the resort has set up a separate website blog for those wishing to track the progress of the lift. Starting with the deconstruction the Borvig triple that was dismantled and will be on route to Michigan, there are facts, videos, links to related topics such as the company doing the installation - Doppelmayr, and lots of pictures. The site should be updated daily and will be linked off the main Sunday River website, but for the time being, it can accessed via www.chondola.com.

Gondola projects taking shape

One of the first posts I made in this here blog was about the massive Peak-to-Peak Gondola project that is currently underway at Whistler/Blackcomb, BC. I talked about a site where you could follow the progress of the construction and installation of this mammoth lift through videos, pictures, and articles - all on a Whistler site. Sadly, this site came down once ski season started and whether it reopens is unknown to me. The Gondola, being built by Dopplmayr/Garaventa, is the largest in the world in terms of tower-to tower span, distance, and maximum height above the ground.
I’ve indeed also talked about a project here at lovely Sunday River, ME where Dopplmayr/CTEC is installing the region’s first hybrid lift (aka Chondola) – gondola and 6-person chair. Okay, so the scale of this project isn’t quite the same as the Peak-to-Peak, but it’s still a fairly major installation and I’ve decided that I will attempt to create a site/blog about the project’s process. The site address is TBD and will also be contingent on approval from Sunday River so stay tuned for further details.

I prefer the Hybrid Lift, but you can decide for yourself

So you’ve been reading up on ski lifts and have heard that Sunday River is installing a $7.3 million “Chondola” and haven’t a clue what it is, well you’re not alone. In fact Chondola is really just a nickname for this type of lift which is actually called a hybrid lift and has only been installed three previous times in North America. While it is a fairly complex left, given the need for daily configuration set up, which can be altered depending on needs resulting from temps and wind, the hybrid is one part chairlift and one part gondola. The carriers are interspersed along the haul rope at whatever desired interval the operators chose. The chairs seat 6 and the gondola cabins seat 8. Sunday River’s new Hybrid – I just don’t like the word Chondola – is being designed and installed by Dopplmayr/CTEC with the possible exception of the gondola cabins which in the case of a Dopplmayr installation, are usually purchased from CWA of Switzerland. While the name for the new lift hasn’t been announced, I’ve suggested to the resort that it be called “The Viking Express.” We shall see!