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15
Sep

2023

Weekly Roundup: Cable Car Coming to Grecian Castle Town

The addition of a cable car hopes to make the Grecian castle town of Monemvasia more accessible to visitors and locals alike. The gondola will allow the elderly and those with disabilities to access the upper town when they could not, or may have had greatly difficulty doing so, before, as it could previously only be reached by a set of steep and narrow stairs. Image credit to Rita Willaert, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, via Flickr.
  • Monemvasia, a castle town in Greece, is adding a cable car that aims to open by 2024. The new cable car was originally proposed in 2021, and the 6.8 million euros will be funded through Recovery and Resilience (RRF) funds. The goal is to make the town, which stands as Europe’s oldest inhabited castle town, completely accessible to all visitors, and the town is working through many different upgrades and projects to make this happen. The cable car will specifically aim to make the upper town accessible, which is currently only accessible by narrow stairs.
  • Winter Park Resort in Colorado is adding a new lift and other investments. Winter Park has invested $100 million in improvements for this upcoming season, including $30 million on mountain and base experiences. Some of those projects include adding a high-speed six-person chairlift, called the Wild Spur Express, to the Vasquez Ridge area. The lift will include a mid-point loading zone and is scheduled to open in late November or early December.
  • Red Pine Gondola in Utah replaces half the cabins for next winter season. The 55 new cabins are slightly heavier than the 60 old cabins and will require some adjustments to the towers and terminals to accommodate the added weight. The additional weight causes the cabins to hang at a 2 degree angle, which may create a slightly bumpy ride coming into the terminal. The lift has added water jugs under the cabin seats, which meet safety standards, to counterbalance the weight difference for half of the new cabins that were installed for the upcoming winter season. The addition of the counterbalance is simply for rider comfort and is not required for the safety of the lift operation. 


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09
Jun

2023

Weekly Roundup: Scenic Gondola to Come to Southern India

The Nilgiris Hills of southern India, famous for their misty steppes and lush flora and fauna, could soon be home to a gondola system which would take locals and tourist alike on a sky trip across the idyllic scenery. Whatever form this system takes, it is destined to bring new economic opportunity to the region. Image credit to Yogiroxxx, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.


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26
May

2023

Weekly Roundup: Sightseeing Gondola or Year-Round Resort? Two Visions of the Future of the Canadian Cascades

The province of British Columbia must soon decide on which project will soon make its home among the peaks near Bridal Falls and Mt. Cheam: a world-class, sightseeing gondola or an all-season ski resort. Though both projects would bring a new wave of tourism to the region, each has their own advantages and disadvantages. Image credit to Murray Foubister, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.


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11
Nov

2022

Weekly Roundup: Base to Base Gondola opening!

  • The Base to Base Gondola is expected to open November 22. The 2.4-mile system will ascend 3,105 feet to connect two ski areas, Alpine Meadows and Palisades Tahoe. This will be the first gondola to utilize fully automated cabin parking. This means that with the push of a button, it will take 20 minutes to store 96 cabins. See a related Weekly Roundup here.


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09
Sep

2022

Weekly Roundup: Doppelmayr has just released the new TRI-Line gondola


Doppelmayr TRI-Line Talstation, Photo Rendering by Doppelmayr
  • The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) announced their preferred transit alternative is the gondola for Little Cottonwood Canyon. 3S gondolas, also known as tricable detachable gondola (TDG), are highly reliable because they can handle harsher weather conditions. A 3S has two track ropes with the sole purpose of stabilizing the cabins and one propulsion cable. It’s estimated the gondola will ease congestion on the canyon by 30%, but critics accurately say the system will primarily benefit Alta and Snowbird skiers. The largest user group causing congestion throughout the canyon are resort skiers and the gondola is only intended to operate during the wintertime. It will take up to three years to install the gondola, which will be the world’s longest, and in the meantime other temporary traffic measures will be used to reduce congestion.  UDOT is taking public comments on the gondola proposal until October 17. See a related Weekly Roundup here.
  • Doppelmayr has just released the new TRI-Line gondola. The TRI-Line is an innovative combination of the 3S and D-Line model, the latest model of Doppelmayr’s monocable detachable gondola (MDG). The major benefits of the TRI-Line are compact stations similar to the D-Line and a high capacity of moving up to 8,000 people per hour per direction. We will have more details about this new technology soon, stay tuned.
  • London’s cable car is to be rebranded as IFS Cloud Cable Car in October. Transport for London (Tfl) has announced a two year sponsorship deal with the technology company, IFS. IFS is a fast growing global technology company that will be completely rebranding the cabins and stations. The cable car had approximately 1.5 million passengers in the year leading up to July 2022. See a related Weekly Roundup here.
  • The Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (LA ART) development company donated the Dodger Stadium gondola project to Climate Resolve. The gondola project was proposed in 2018 by LA ART, led by the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The vision is to build a 3S gondola that will move people between Union Station and the Dodgers Stadium with two intermediate stations. Climate Resolve is an environmental nonprofit that focuses on combating the impacts of climate change. LA ART will continue to fund the entitlement phase of the project with Climate Resolve responsible for shepherding the project through the entitlement process, assembling the funding package, and managing the construction phase.  See a related Weekly Roundup hereSCJ Alliance is part of this project.


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29
Jul

2022

Weekly Roundup: Dursey Island Cable Car to reopen in November

Dursey Island Cable Car, Photo on Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)


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01
Jul

2022

Weekly Roundup: Colorado’s Steamboat Resort Prepares for the Wild Blue Gondola!

Going up the mountain
Steamboat Ski Resort Gondola (Photo by Jeffery Beal on Flickr)(CC BY-SA 2.0)



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