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A funicular is an inclined railway. There are many different variants. A haul rope is usually passed over a winding drum and the vechicle is pulled along a fixed track on the ground.


Image © Funimag - Excellent Funicular Resource

A funitel is a detachable-grip ropeway employing two parallel haul ropes spaced some distance apart (usually slightly wider than the gondola itself). This setup lends itself to operation in very high winds and a very smooth ride (I guess, having never riden one!).


Lift World - Good full list of worldwide installations of various lift types


-Iain
This post has been edited by Duck: 23 February 2005 - 05:22 AM

This question may not be exactly for this type of forum, but I will ask it anyway: I spoke with people at Silver Mountain and was told that the resort has lost millions even since the inception of their gondola liking Kellog to SM. But then I read an article stating that they built new condos around the gondola and they sold 80% of them the first day. If anybody can answer: What is going on up there? Is it bad marketing? bad location? bad resort? Does anybody have any comments about this?

Are there any funiculars anywhere in N. America?

Theres one in Quebec City

There used to be two in Colorado Springs but both are gone now.

Hi Dustin, I can actually answer your question for you since I know a lot about what's going on up there.

Around 1987, VonRoll (The popular European lift manufacturer) bought Jackass Ski Bowl hoping to create North America's newest destination resort. VonRoll partnered with the city of Kellogg to totally redesign the ski area and they both spent millions of dollars doing it.

However, instead of spending money on building a real base area or village, they only decided to install new lifts. I presume there was close to $37 million or more spent on capital improvements for the mountain in 1988. I presume the reason why Silver Mountain never built a village was because they figured it was a locals mountain and that people from Spokane, WA would be its main visitors.

After the silver and gold mines started to shut down in the area, the city of Kellogg no longer had the money to continue to invest in the ski area and VonRoll started to pay for stuff out of its own pocket. I don't think VonRoll really knew how to run a resort or promote one either and the mountain never really gained the popularity that it was expected to get. VonRoll kept opperating the resort until it was bought by Doppelmayr and it sold it to JELD-WEN.

JELD-WEN is the World's largest door and window manufacturer and it has been wanting to get into the ski resort business for a while. After its plans of building a new resort in Oregon, it grabed Silver Mountain when it came onto the market. JELD-WEN has had great success with its own resorts, like Eagle Crest and the Running Y. After creating those resorts, JELD-WEN started World Mark and a time share resort company like RCI. It later sold World Mark for over $1 billion but still retains some ownership of it I believe.

Anyway, JELD-WEN is planning on making Silver Mountain as popular as its other resorts and failure isn't an option. It has the money to make Silver Mountain what it was intended and so far things are looking good. It has plans of installing new lifts and an entirely new base village on the other side of Kellogg. So far JELD-WEN has brought in a company to manage and operate the resort, but there are still more things that need to be done to make Silver Mountain successful.

Silver Mountain's location is great since it's right of I-90, but like I mentioned above, there wasn't enough money spent on lodging and promotion. But from everyone who has skied the mountain said it's awesome. When I was there this winter, only part of the mountain was open and the terrain that was open wasn't that good.

UTmorMAN, on Feb 23 2005, 12:35 AM, said:

Off the top of my head (I'm sure there are others):

-Quebec City, Quebec
-Niagara Falls, Ontario
-Horseshoe Curve, Pensylvania
-Johnstown, Pensylvania
-Los Angeles, California

It doesn't sound like a funicular is what you're after for your application, though.

-Iain

There's one at Lookout Mountain, Tenessee too

five trees in Snowmass Colorado. They are / were in hot water.

Kicking Horse, on Feb 23 2005, 06:59 PM, said:

That's actually an inclinded elevator, not a finicular.

What do you define as a funicular?

-Iain

A funicular is a car like the pics that we have seen that is propelled by a cable.

Seems to me an inclined elevator is the same thing then, no? Granted I haven't seen any photos or know anything about the system in question. Is it self-propelled?

Here's Funimag's technical page with the variants.

The term "Funicular" to me defines any kind of inclined railway with a haul/traction rope. I'd define a self-powered (electric, steam, etc) railway with a rack as such - a rack railway. There are several self-propelled electric cabin-based transportation systems which I'd catagorize like that as well.

-Iain
This post has been edited by Duck: 24 February 2005 - 07:52 AM

Inclined elevator from L-P's website, http://www.pomagroup.com/Apm.htm

I don't know what is the difference, it would indeed seem that if the inclined elevator was pulled by a rope then it would fall under the category of "funiculars."

Can anybody tell me some more info. about places like Heavenly, Telluride, and Squaw Valley?
Heavenly- Somebody mentioned that they had all of the parts shiped in for their gondola and simply put it together themselves. Is that true? Did it save them a lot of money doing it that way?
Telluride- Any info or pics about this people mover would be greatly appreciated.

Also, does anbyody know of a situation similar to ours anywhere in Europe?
Thanks for the help! :D

Here are some pictures of the gondolas at Telluride. The Village and Parking Gondolas.

http://skilifts.org/co-telluride.htm

Heavenly's Gondola is just like any other, just a touch longer. The lift was manufactured and erected like other lifts of this size and type. Mostly bolt together with very little field welding or custom fitting. You might have missed it in the volume of the links that were posted to you - the lift cost was around 20 million, I honestly don’t think saving money was an issue. Notice Gondola feeds many lifts and bypasses steep Tram area. This lift might be called a "people mover" because not too many skier actually use lift to make a "round trip" ski run – it just moves people up and down the mountain.
http://www.skiheavenly.com/the_mountain/tr...map/04_05_grid/

Squaw Funi cost perhaps 10 mil (probably on our site somewhere)? As KZ's reply says - it was built because of its higher wind capacity. 6 place gondola has same capacity and is only reduced when the lift has to slow down because of cross winds. This lift can be used for a "round trip" ski lift when there are no lines so the "people mover" name doesn't quite apply in this case. Even with ski runs paralleling this lift it does load at 100% downhill capacity at the end of the day.
Just like Heavenly, Squaw's Funi feeds many intermediate lifts and bypasses steeper terrain.
http://www.squaw.com...ter/mtnmap.html

I have noticed you have mentioned costs in a few of your posts and quite frankly money and or recouping money for these transport lifts is not a prevailing issue. High capacity in any weather and bypassing steep or flat terrain are the hurdles for these transport lifts.

Allright folks, I am writing an article for a local magazine about our group and the idea we have in Ogden, Utah. I just had a big brain cramp and need some help.
What is it called when they clear trees to build a ski lift? You know, the area below the lift that is cleared through which the lift runs through.
How many people can a tram hold in each cabin?
How many people can a gondola hold in each cabin?
How many people can a funitel hold in each cabin?

Thanks for the help. Hopefully the brain cramp will go away. Maybe a little XBOX will help. :D

I believe that gondi cabins can hold from 4 to 16, some might be standing in the highest capacity, though. Funitel cabins can hold up to 30, and trams hold about 200 per car.