Mt Ruapehu gondola opening delayed

Wednesday, 22 May 2019

Challenges in an ever-changing mountain environment have delayed the opening of Mt Ruapehu's state-of-the-art gondola until the end of June.

The $25m high-speed gondola project started at the end of the ski season last year, with hopes of it being up and running in time for the early opening of Whakapapa's Happy Valley at the beginning of June.

Alongside the ever-changing mountain environment, the Leitner Ropeways team – which is supplying and installing the gondola – have faced logistical challenges with engineering specifications, getting materials on site and the construction process.

Lack of access over the volcanic terrain added to the complexity of the project. Transporting concrete from the truck to the construction site has required some out-of-the-box thinking.

**READ MORE:

* Mt Ruapehu's state-of-the-art gondola taking shape

* High speed gondola planned for skifield**

'Delays are expected working in an ever-changing mountain environment and due to this the opening date for the Sky Waka has moved out a little from the beginning of June to the end,' Whakapapa general manager, Jono Dean 

'This will coincide with [the] expected opening of the upper mountain at the end of June, our normal Whakapapa season opening date.'

But despite the challenges and the delay on the opening, the Leitner Ropeways team have managed to put the final two towers in place, forming the base of the pathway for the new gondola.

Fourteen tower foundations were needed to support the Sky Waka gondola line but towers seven and 11 were a challenge to install as both were located in difficult to access locations with little access to power and machinery.

Tower 11 was also a geologically complex site, making it extra challenging.

Dean said tower seven is located in a tricky spot on a ridge near Hut Flat.

'The challenge here was excavating a large enough hole for the concrete footing and was complicated by the fact that we could only use a small excavator,' Dean said.

'On top of this we needed to bag all of the excavated material and lift it out with the material ropeway, and store it safely until the footing was ready to be back filled. It's essentially been a hand-dug excavation.'

Tower 11 was just as challenging as it was located in a small outcropping on a location called '2nd Waterfall'.

'The rock is solid lava so there was no possibility of excavating a traditional footing here. In addition to this we have no way to get an excavator to this site so all the drilling had to be done with handheld units.

'Four large anchor bolts were set into the rock, glued into place and then once set, pull tested to ensure they were sufficiently strong for the foundation to be anchored to. The tower itself is the tallest on the whole lift at 22m.'

Now that the towers have been completed, the haul rope for the gondola is next on the installation list.

Pilot lines are already in place and these will be used to pull the main haul rope up and then back down the other side of the lift ready to be spliced together. The spool containing the haul rope weighs 48,000kg

The new high-speed Sky Waka features fifty Sky Waka gondola cabins with floor to ceiling glass for breathtaking views, internal ski racks, audio and lighting and individual leather seats offering business-class luxury to passengers. 

Each cabin accommodates 10 passengers and even the tallest skiers will be able to stand upright in the cabin with more than 2m of internal clearance.

The Sky Waka will run from the Top of the Bruce base area directly to the Knoll Ridge Café. It will transport 2,400 people per hour over the 1.8km in approximately 5 minutes.

The new gondola forms part of the $100m reinvestment strategy announced by the RAL board in 2015.