Posts Tagged: ropeway

23
Jan

2013

The “Sky Road” Ropeway in China’s Yushan Village

We’ve seen our fair share of primitive, simple ropeways around the world, especially in China (link 1, link 2) where cable is often used to connect remote, mountainous villages.

And today, we can add another one to this exclusive list — the Yushan Village “Sky Road” Ropeway in Hubei Province.

In the past, the 200 villagers who use this system had to trek several days before reaching the nearest town but today, can simply glide across the 400m deep gorge in mere minutes. Take a look — and try not to look down.

The Sky Road Ropeway stretches 3200 ft long (~1km) across a gorge. Image from dailymail.co.uk.

While this system looks like something that was built in medieval times, in reality, the Sky Road is only 16 years old.

What’s even more incredible is that Zhang Xinjian is the ropeway’s only remaining operator and is responsible for all aspects of maintenance, including the weekly lubrication of the cables and daily upkeep of the diesel engine.

Zhang Xinjian hard at work. Image from dailymail.co.uk.

Passengers using ropeway to transport goods and materials. Image from dailymail.co.uk

 

The work by Zhang is undoubtedly commendable but as we’ve discussed in the past, there is probably need for much more involvement from the cable industry so to ensure that these systems continue to operate safely and to avoid any unnecessary accidents.



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23
Aug

2012

Skyride – Toronto’s newest Chairlift at the CNE (The Ex)

If you happen to live in Toronto, Canada, you’ve probably heard on the news or from friends/family that the CNE or “The Ex” opened its doors last Friday. For those not from Toronto, The Ex is an annual fair that runs during the last weeks of August until Canadian Labour Day Monday. It’s the country’s largest exhibition and 7th largest in North America with a yearly attendance of 1.3 million visitors.

This year the CNE travelled back into time and brought back a similar ride from the 90s. Dubbed as the fair’s “spectacular new permanent attraction”, Skyride is an amusement park chairlift which takes you from one end of the exhibition to the other. The Ex was previously home to another aerial lift, known as the Alpine Way Gondola but that system was dismantled in 1994 (after 28 years in service) to make way for the Direct Energy Centre.

So on opening day, I decided to venture into The Ex to experience what this new ride had to offer.

Novelty mixed with nostalgia makes for very long line ups. Image by Nicholas Chu.

After lining up for about 10 minutes, I was finally able to hop on the 2-seater lift. Once onboard, the ride gently whisks passengers above and across the exhibition grounds at a height of 40 feet.

Panoramic views of all the attractions and venues at the CNE. Image by Nicholas Chu.

Ride fits in nicely with the rest of the carnival attractions. Image by Nicholas Chu.

So after a breezy but refreshing 8 minute ride, I was dropped off near BMO field. Overall, the trip was fun while it lasted and with a one-way ticket cost of only $5 dollars, it’s certainly well worth the price considering that boneheads like me typically waste a minimum of $50 on carnival games alone.

Even the carnies themselves can't beat this game. Image from bestcarnivalcreations.com

However, as mentioned by commenter’s on the Toronto Star, some consider the Skyride as a rather half-hearted and disappointing attempt at bringing back an aerial lift to the CNE. Comparatively speaking, the Alpine Way Gondola was 700m long operating at a height of 100 feet while the Skyride is only 500m long operating at a height of 40 feet.

On the bright side, the Skyride is certainly a welcome addition to the myriad of midway rides at the CNE. However, from a pure public transit perspective, the optics and size of the system may further perpetuate and reinforce that cable is only suitable for carnival purposes. And who can blame them? This chairlift is really the only exposure that Torontonians ever get of cable technology.

If one day The Ex somehow regains its former glorious status as the preeminent venue to display the world’s newest innovations, CNE organizers may even convince and partner with a ropeway manufacturer to showcase the recent technological improvements made by cable systems. One can only dream what a demonstration 3S system would do for a city like Toronto.

A demonstration gondola system using 3S technology would certainly help people understand why CPT is viable. Not to mention that it'd give The Ex something to really boast about. Image by CUP Projects (Steven Dale).



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12
Jul

2012

Open Water Chairlift: Nandaihe Ropeway, Hebei, China

What happens during high winds mid-ride? I hope they have a good rescue plan... Image from www.itravelqq.com.

Over the years at the Gondola Project, we’ve learned about and seen many interesting “water-based” CPT systems (i.e. Koblenz Rheinseilbahn, Emirates Air Line, and Teleferico do Parque das Nacoes). Today, we can officially add another cable car line to that list. The name you say? It’s known as the Nandaihe Ropeway and it’s located in China’s Hebei Province (map of system here).

Judging from the picture above, those who are brave enough to ride this are transported in a chairlift that’s unenclosed over the busy waters of the Bohai Sea. It takes approximately 15 minutes (link is in Chinese) for passengers to reach an island theme park from the Nandaihe International Entertainment Centre located on the mainland.

At 1.039km in length, this ride is by no means a dinky chairlift. Comparatively speaking, it is longer than the Koblenz Rheinseilbahn (0.89km) but just slightly shorter than the Emirates Air Line (1.1km). With that said, it is reportedly the only “water aerial lift” in China and to my knowledge, this system is probably one of the world’s longest and few chairlift systems that actually transports passengers over a body of water.

If somehow this makes the ride any safer, according to this website (in Chinese), the system shuts down when the wind reaches level “6” or 39-49 km/h.

If the chairlift wasn't exhilarating enough, once you reach the island, you can bungee jump off that monstrous looking tower on the right. Image by Panoramio user zhang.solomon.

More pictures of this ride can be found in the following links: Picture 1; Picture 2; Picture 3.



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23
Apr

2012

CPD – Cable Propelled Doctor

Dr. Deng has spent the last 28 years travelling to villages via a death-defying rope journey to treat his patients. Image by mzb.com.cn.

On Friday last week, we brought you the news story that featured how a simple cable span was being use to ferry children across a gorge in China’s Guizhou province. Today, we’ve come across another incredible and heart-warming amazing story in China, but this time involving a selfless doctor named Dr. Deng.

Deng is a village doctor and most of his patients are separated from the main city by a river. In order to gain access to the village, he has to make use of a rudimentary cableway.  Despite the dangers involved and earning only 200 dollars a month, Dr. Deng has unceasingly made this treacherous trip each month for the past 28 years. It takes him over a week to fully check up on all the children in the village.

What’s more incredible is that, since there is no braking mechanism built into the pulley system, whenever he wants to slow down, he would rely on his grip strength to control his speed. He mentions that his hands would routinely get cut by the aging cable.

Dr. Deng hopes that a bridge will be built soon in the future so that residents can have quicker access to medical services. For the full story, click here for more photos and/or click here for the video (in Chinese).



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