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Here are a few pictures of the Peak to Peak construction at Whistler Blackcomb.

A few more...

Wow they are moving fast on that construction!

The Kadenwood Gondola at Whistler has some survey markers, but that's it. Is it really going to be built this summer?

Snoqualmie guy, on Jul 10 2008, 12:03 AM, said:

Really? Somone have a big truck/trailer, a strong back, and a good headlamp?

Yes you must be right. I think they stole only about 8 or so.

Skier, on Jul 10 2008, 06:11 PM, said:

We are told they are.

Wow, that is some incredible progress on the 3S. If they did that last year, they could have had it built by the first season. I wonder, why do they bother clearing a line if the cars are 600 feet above the trees??

skierdude9450, on Jul 11 2008, 08:41 PM, said:

1,427 feet, actually at the highest point. I was wondering about reason for the clearing as well. The only thing I can think of is that it needed to be clear for the rope pulling.
This post has been edited by Skier: 11 July 2008 - 08:10 PM

Yeah I don't know if they plan to let the trees grow back, or what but I do remember that last year when I was there in June / July one of their selling points for the P2P was that it had a lower environmental impact than a HSQ because less trees had to be removed (obviously not the case).

What about evacuating the lift? Don't they need a line underneath? And what about maintenance?

You can't rope people down 1,427 feet. There is an evacuation cabin which can be run along the line to each cabin.

Skier, on Jul 11 2008, 10:06 PM, said:

No way. If I were in a cabin when that lift broke down I would be staying put until it is fixed. Forget that. I'd rather die in that cabin than get out of it at 1,427 feet above the ground.

How in the world do you pull cable at that height and distance?

Correct me if I'm wrong, Rob, but- You get a bunch of monkeys to hike down and back up pulling the sandline, which is then attached to a winch at one end and the rope at the other. The sandline is spooled up, pulling the main rope across. Of course in this case, it would probably be easier to unspool the sandline with a helicopter the way they string the 200 kVa powerlines.

This quote is from the Peak to Peak website:

"The delivery of five gargantuan reels of cable on June 17 was a huge milestone in this project’s construction journey and since that date each reel has made the slow journey up to the Blackcomb terminal station to await stringing.



Doppelmayr/Garaventa is responsible for the stringing of the track rope cables. One has been installed and three more track ropes and the haul rope are left to secure. Since these cables are too heavy to string initially, progressively larger and larger cables are pulled down from Blackcomb’s terminal station, to Fitzsimmon’s Creek in the middle, and then up Whistler Mountain’s flank to the terminal station there.



A small temporary cable lift has been built in the valley near the middle of the span which pulls each cable down the valley from Blackcomb with the help of a linear pulling machine which feeds the cable through two jaws working “hand over hand,” one metre at a time, 240 metres per hour. When the final 56mm track rope finally arrives in the valley, it is slowly hauled up Whistler’s flank with a 50 ton winch until it arrives at the Whistler terminal station to be attached to an anchor bollard and threaded onto the saddles of each of the four lift towers.



Once the final 56mm track rope is strung from Blackcomb to Whistler it is attached to an anchor bollard in each terminal station and threaded onto the saddles of each of the four lift towers."

Source web-page

SKIER,
Your picture looking down into Fitzsimmons Creek over the Whistler terminal is great. Where did you take it from?
This post has been edited by SuperRat: 12 July 2008 - 06:04 AM

SuperRat, on Jul 12 2008, 07:02 AM, said:

It was taken from the Peak Chair which is open in the summer.

Couple of answers for you
1. Evacuation - Between towers 2 and 3, there is a rescue "bike" that is loaded onto the trackropes with a crane and "ridden" down to the cabin. This bike pulls a winch cable. The bike is attached to the cabin grip, the grip opened and the cabin hauled back to the tower. The people are unloaded at the tower and there they are only about 200 feet off the ground. Between the big towers and the stations, we use a system pretty similar to what is alredy used on the other lifts, with an anchor over the rack ropes, then ascending to the cabin.

2. Cable pulling - SuperRats post pretty much covers it. They used a helicopter to fly a nylon line and then pulled a 3/4 inch steel rope with it.

3. Treecutting - This was done to prevent snags in the pulling process. Most of the trees were laid down accross the line so the cable would run across them easier.

4. Maintenance - We can drive to all the towers, and averything else is done from the top of a cabin.

Thanks Rob. It all sounds like so much fun. Could I get a ride on that "Bike" if I come visit sometime?

Even more fun would be the line check. There is a double seat that attaches to the top of the grip for doing inspections. I don't know what the plan will be for letting others ride it though.

Oh yeah! I'd definitly come in early to do that job.