Silver Star to get new Gondola.

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https://www.vernonmorningstar.com/news/ ... a-project/

Visitors to Silver Star Mountain Resort will soon be reaching new heights.

Work begins soon on a new Doppelmayr gondola, replacing the existing Summit fixed grip double chair from 1970.

“These new cabins will whisk guests from the bottom to the top of the Summit in a third of the time of the existing double chair,” said Brad Baker, director of operations.

“The ride will now take four-and-a-half minutes from the village to the Summit, travelling at five metres per second over a distance of 1,063 metres with a vertical rise of 293 metres.”

The new high-speed detachable gondola cabins each provide seating for eight while ski and board racks are provided outside on door-mounted racks.

Initially, the lift will have 21 cabins with an uphill capacity of 1,200 people per hour, with the capacity increasing to 43 cabins as per design in the future. The Gondola will service more than 16 per cent of the existing terrain, plus provide the fastest access to the Comet and Alpine Meadows terrain pods from the village.

“The gondola installation facilitates additional future capital improvement projects, such as the addition of an alpine restaurant between the Comet and the Gondola lift, installation of a lift in the Terrain Par, and options for a summer coaster or pipe,” said Ken Derpak, managing director.

The work begins this month with the engineering and design for the installation of the tower, top and bottom terminal foundations, while the targeted installation of the top station is this Summer. The second and final stage of construction will resume ahead of a grand opening in July 2018.

“All of Silver Star is excited to celebrate our milestone 60th anniversary year with the completion of our new gondola. This delivers a world-class improvement to our guest experience for both winter and summer offerings,” said Jane Cann, president.