{"id":607,"date":"2014-08-18T15:48:44","date_gmt":"2014-08-18T13:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/wordpress\/?p=607"},"modified":"2019-04-10T11:41:44","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T09:41:44","slug":"gondola-lifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/","title":{"rendered":"All About High-Speed Gondola Lifts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

I<\/span>n recent years high-speed gondola lifts have not only transformed the on-mountain experience for skiers but also finally allowed their non-skiing companions to see for themselves some of the amazing scenery they were hitherto denied. But as we\u2019ll see, the advantages (and technological challenges) don\u2019t stop there…<\/p>\n

Getting up a mountain, by whatever means, is always going to involve someone in a considerable degree of effort and commitment \u2014 something which modern skiers are increasingly being spared, thanks to the adoption of high-speed gondola lifts. We travelled to Samo\u00ebns <\/a>in the Grand Massif, French Alps, to find out just how a state-of-the art installation works.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\nat the maximum speed of 6m\/sec the Grand Massif Express makes the 3km journey (with a 900m vertical ascent) in just eight minutes…\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n\"Grand\n<\/div>\n
\n\"gondola\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Large expresso…<\/h2>\n
\n
\n

A rapid, high-capacity link from the village of Samo\u00ebns up to the heart of the ski area was first considered back in 1935, but only achieved 70 or so years later, when the necessary technology was perfected. Today at its maximum speed of 6m\/sec the Grand Massif Express makes the 3km journey (with a 900m vertical ascent) in just eight minutes. Normal running with 95 cabins gives a capacity of 2500 skiers\/hr, although at times of peak demand a further eleven cabins can be added, boosting skier capacity to 2800\/hr. Conversely, in low-traffic periods the lift can run at reduced speed and with just fifty gondolas attached, economising significantly on energy consumption.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

What makes this possible is the same trick which allows passengers to board and alight calmly in the loading area, before heading off on a high-speed journey up or down the mountain. As each cabin approaches the end of its journey it is met by a mechanism which releases the spring-loaded grip securing it to the main cable and lifts it onto the transport mechanism, where it undergoes a smooth, controlled deceleration. Once the cabin has safely reached the loading area a lever mounted above the cabin opens the doors, while the cabins continue their slow advance. Passengers have plenty of time to alight or board, stow or retrieve their skies, snowboards, etc.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Once each cabin has safely left the loading area the process begins again in reverse, beginning with door closure. Each cabin then undergoes a carefully-controlled acceleration to match its velocity to that of the cable, which has meanwhile continued its rapid progress around the giant horizontal pulley-wheel by which it is driven at both top and bottom stations. Once fully-synchronised, the cabin is simply lowered onto the cable and the spring-loaded release disengaged, to grip the cable securely at two points. During low-traffic periods cabins can be taken out of service simply by diverting (or \u2018shunting\u2019) them out of the slow transport system in the loading\/unloading area and into a nearby garage area \u2014 much like diverting a railway wagon into a siding. Bringing them back into service is just as simple.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\"gondola\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Wielding power…<\/h2>\n
\n
\n

The main electro-hydraulic drive units run at 500V, stepped down from a 20kV supply, and consume around 645 Amps with an average passenger load. The lift operators\u2019 screen displays (below) include wind-velocities monitored at each of the supporting pylons along the route \u2014 vital information for the safe operation of such a large, powerful lift.<\/p>\n

As in all lifts, passenger safety is the number one priority area, and the sheer complexity of the high-speed gondola creates many areas to be monitored and maintained. In addition to the routine checks and maintenance carried out before the lift is opened each day, regular official inspections are carried out independently to ensure that every component continues to function perfectly. Since each cabin can weigh around 1.5 tonnes, the condition of the main cable is constantly and precisely monitored.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Official programmed safety inspections involve testing under controlled conditions, with each cabin carrying its maximum designed load (usually well in excess of the permitted passenger load). To achieve this rubberised ballast bags are loaded into each cabin and filled with a measured mass of water.
\nWe are indebted to the management and staff of Grand Massif for their invaluable help during the production of this feature. \"MountainPassions<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We take a look at the inner workings of the big guns of the ski resorts…","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[318],"tags":[338,405,489,490],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAll About High-Speed Gondola Lifts - MountainPassions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How high-speed gondola lifts work. We visit the Grand Massif for another in our 'behind the scenes at a ski resort' features.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"All About High-Speed Gondola Lifts - MountainPassions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How high-speed gondola lifts work. We visit the Grand Massif for another in our 'behind the scenes at a ski resort' features.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MountainPassions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Mountain-Passions-422318654644495\/?ref=hl\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MtnPassions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-18T13:48:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-04-10T09:41:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/grand-massif-express-gondola-ski-lift-samoens-12446.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"530\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"330\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Roger Moss\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MtnPassions\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MtnPassions\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Roger Moss\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/\",\"name\":\"All About High-Speed Gondola Lifts - MountainPassions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/grand-massif-express-gondola-ski-lift-samoens-12446.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-18T13:48:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-10T09:41:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/#\/schema\/person\/ea32a1a1cf2b7d5e8492ef0bee6214a1\"},\"description\":\"How high-speed gondola lifts work. We visit the Grand Massif for another in our 'behind the scenes at a ski resort' features.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/grand-massif-express-gondola-ski-lift-samoens-12446.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/grand-massif-express-gondola-ski-lift-samoens-12446.jpg\",\"width\":530,\"height\":330,\"caption\":\"Skier leaving Grand Massif Express ski lift at Samoens, French Alps.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/maintenance-page\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ski Features\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/category\/ski-features\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"All About High-Speed Gondola Lifts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/\",\"name\":\"MountainPassions\",\"description\":\"Skiing & Enjoying the Mountains of France\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/#\/schema\/person\/ea32a1a1cf2b7d5e8492ef0bee6214a1\",\"name\":\"Roger Moss\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4781097732ab530d172814d4b643f5e5?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4781097732ab530d172814d4b643f5e5?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Roger Moss\"},\"description\":\"Owner and Editor of MountainPassions, Roger is a journalist and photographer with more than 30 years\u2019 professional experience producing illustrated ski and travel editorial features for magazines and location photography for travel guides, both in the UK and overseas. He regularly writes resort reviews for other ski websites and tour operators as well as ski and mountain features for newspapers and magazines worldwide.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MtnPassions\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rogermoss\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/author\/rogermoss\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"All About High-Speed Gondola Lifts - MountainPassions","description":"How high-speed gondola lifts work. We visit the Grand Massif for another in our 'behind the scenes at a ski resort' features.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"All About High-Speed Gondola Lifts - MountainPassions","og_description":"How high-speed gondola lifts work. We visit the Grand Massif for another in our 'behind the scenes at a ski resort' features.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/","og_site_name":"MountainPassions","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Mountain-Passions-422318654644495\/?ref=hl","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MtnPassions","article_published_time":"2014-08-18T13:48:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-04-10T09:41:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":530,"height":330,"url":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/grand-massif-express-gondola-ski-lift-samoens-12446.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Roger Moss","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@MtnPassions","twitter_site":"@MtnPassions","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Roger Moss","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/","name":"All About High-Speed Gondola Lifts - MountainPassions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/grand-massif-express-gondola-ski-lift-samoens-12446.jpg","datePublished":"2014-08-18T13:48:44+00:00","dateModified":"2019-04-10T09:41:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/#\/schema\/person\/ea32a1a1cf2b7d5e8492ef0bee6214a1"},"description":"How high-speed gondola lifts work. We visit the Grand Massif for another in our 'behind the scenes at a ski resort' features.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/grand-massif-express-gondola-ski-lift-samoens-12446.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/grand-massif-express-gondola-ski-lift-samoens-12446.jpg","width":530,"height":330,"caption":"Skier leaving Grand Massif Express ski lift at Samoens, French Alps."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/ski-features\/gondola-lifts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/maintenance-page\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ski Features","item":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/category\/ski-features\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"All About High-Speed Gondola Lifts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/","name":"MountainPassions","description":"Skiing & Enjoying the Mountains of France","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/#\/schema\/person\/ea32a1a1cf2b7d5e8492ef0bee6214a1","name":"Roger Moss","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4781097732ab530d172814d4b643f5e5?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4781097732ab530d172814d4b643f5e5?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Roger Moss"},"description":"Owner and Editor of MountainPassions, Roger is a journalist and photographer with more than 30 years\u2019 professional experience producing illustrated ski and travel editorial features for magazines and location photography for travel guides, both in the UK and overseas. He regularly writes resort reviews for other ski websites and tour operators as well as ski and mountain features for newspapers and magazines worldwide.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MtnPassions","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rogermoss"],"url":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/author\/rogermoss\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mountainpassions.com\/winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}