The Chondola Construction moves ahead!

With a month left in the construction process of Sunday River’s Chondola, things are really starting to come together nicely. I’d say that last week’s rain probably posed a big problem for the whole schedule, but even through the weather, work went on. Looking up the line of the lift, there is a huge spool in the middle of the ski trail that is actually thousands of feet of steel rope that will be spliced together and will make up the haul rope (cable) that the chairs and gondola cabins hang from. The process of stringing the haul rope and splicing it can take weeks and is pretty complicated, but it’s also a really cool part of the process. Another cool part of the recent construction is in the picture above. Notice that they are pouring concrete around the whole structure and the walkways. If you look closely at some of the areas that haven’t had the final layer poured, you can see orange tubing, which is actually heat coiling. This keeps the surface from allowing ice to build up.

The inside of a Chondola terminal!

Unless you a ski lift stops just before you get on or off, it’s rare that you get a look inside some of the inner workings of today’s high-speed lifts with all their gears, pulleys, wheels, sheaves, and conveyors. Granted, most of you don’t really care what’s inside as long as it works and it’s fast, but the terminals for high speed lifts are very fascinating. And yet as much as that may be the case, I can see why their aren’t really all that esthetically pleasing, which is why the bottom and top terminals are all covered, but this is a rare chance to see what the inside of one of Sunday River’s high-speed lists looks like. This picture is of the base return station for the new Chondola. While you can see a lot of wheels that are connected to conveyers and ultimately to the bull wheel, you won’t see any big engine. Not to worry, though. On this particular lift, the drive is in the top terminal. I hope we can get a good look in there soon as well, but things re coming along nicely as the season fast approaches.

The heart of ski lift installation!

There’s a part of installing a ski lift that as always been fascinating to me and many others in she ski world. While we love to see the finishing touches put on the base terminal of a shinny new lift and the stringing of brand-spanking-new chairs is a cool site, it’s the flying in of the lift towers that captivates us. Why? Perhaps it’s because the precision of placing these huge towers in a precise line up a mountain is mind-boggling or maybe it’s because installing towers requires the use of one of the largest commercially used helicopters in the work.

Regardless, when you think of the engineering that must be incorporated, there really is nothing like the construction of a ski lift. The pictures here are of the chondola towers being lowered onto their anchors by a massive Sikorsky helicopter and some of the new 8-person cabins that will be interspersed with 6-person chairs.

Technological advances in ski lifts equal faster and safer rides!

Ski lift technology has evolved by leaps and bounds over the past few decades. While tradition mono-cable gondolas first utilized the technology to detach from the haul-rope (Overhead cable) back in the 1960s, the lifts were still pretty slow in comparison to today’s standards. It wasn’t till the early 1980s that the first Doppelmayr high-speed detachable quad chairlift was installed at Breckenridge, Colorado.

While the purpose of the traditional gondola was to detach from the haul rope for ease of loading and unloading, today’s detachable lifts are meant to come off the line for the haul rope can retain a high rate of speed while the chairs slow down and make it easy for people to load. When a detachable chair’s grip releases from the haul rope, the chair is carried about the terminal on a conveyer, which travels at a speed of less than a quarter of the lifts speed. After the skiers or rider load the chair, the chair continues to move along the conveyer, but gradually speeds up until it reaches the same speed as the haul rope. It is at that point that the chair reattaches to the haul rope and makes its’ way up the line.

The advent of high-speed lifts was not only about getting people up the mountain faster, but more importantly, it has allowed for less congestion in high volume base areas and has allowed for shorter lift lines. Less time in line and less time on the lift means more time on the trail. People don’t go to ski resorts to wait in line or sit on lifts; they go to slide down the mountain on two planks or one and lift technology has made this a better experience for all.