Gondola Construction Update #2

08.10.2010

Construction crews at Crystal Mountain have been busy since the gondola project broke ground on April 26th. Since the demolition of the Market, an electrical vault was moved in preparation for the dig, re-bar tied, forms built, the terminal spread & mast foundation was poured, and some minimal heli-assisted logging was completed to clear a path for the tower line.

Terminal parts such as bullwheel quadrants, tire beams and terminal masts have started arriving by the truck load and more parts are arriving weekly. A crew is also in the process of hand digging 5,000 feet of communication line from the base terminal to the top. Doppelmayr provided the tower plans and the digging of tower footings 1-3 and 7-8 will start this week.

Crews are batching concrete at the Summit and pouring the spread foundation today, a total of 85 yards of concrete will be poured today alone.

The goal is to have both terminals set and ready by September 15th. A Chinook helicopter is tentatively scheduled to fly towers sometime the week of October 18th. All 13 towers will be set in just four hours. The projected opening date is December 2010.

Facts:
-Base 4,400 feet
-Top 6,856 feet
-Vertical rise 2,456 feet
-Trip Time 9min 39 sec (approx)
-13 Towers
-18 cabins, with option to add another 18
-Uphill capacity; 450 people per hour, 900 after additional cabins are added
-Cabin interval: 64 seconds, 32 seconds after additional cabins are added
-Speed: 800ft/min.
-Cost: $5.5 million (approx)

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Watch the Summer & Gondola Update #1 Video

Video Update #2 Coming soon!