You’ve got three weeks and two days to ride Queenstown’s iconic Skyline gondola before its four-seat cabins are replaced by roomy new 10-seaters.
After the gondola — which has carried millions of people since the original coloured bubble cabins were replaced in 1987 — shuts down on the evening of April 22, ‘‘it’s kinda all guns blazing’’, Skyline Queenstown GM Wayne Rose says.
First, the existing cabins, towers and cableway will be removed.
Ten new towers will then be installed for the new gondola cableway and 36 new Doppelmayr cabins, which have been stored off-site since arriving just before Christmas.
During this downtime both the new top gondola terminal and new bottom one — being built over the current terminal — will be completed.
Rose says the plan is the new gondola operation — the feature part of a $250 million redevelopment project — will be open for business by July 1, if not sooner.
A third of the new cabins have been designed for mountain bikers — they can take five bikes and five riders.
Rose says people will find the new cabins much more spacious — ‘‘you can walk into them’’.
‘‘It’s flush loading, so you can push wheelchairs or strollers straight into the cabins, because at the moment they’re quite cumbersome to step into.’’
Capacity will triple from 1000 an hour — ‘‘we tend to run it at about 750 an hour’’, Rose says — to 3000.
‘‘We’ll probably be running that at about 2000 an hour.’’
Once the gondola’s up and running again, earthworks will commence on an extension to the top restaurant/terminal building, out towards the luge.
‘‘Once that’s complete, and we’re talking a couple of years, we’re going to demolish the current one, build it back up again, and then stitch the two together.’’
Rose says the new bottom terminal will have only a temporary ticketing facility till about November.
A 400-space carpark being built next door will be completed by next March.
Rose says staff will be taken care of during the closure — many are taking their first overseas holiday in three years.
Going, going … gondola
Skyline Queenstown’s selling off most of its outgoing cabins for charity.
‘Marquee’ auctions will be held for at least three of the cabins featuring the 2011 Rugby World Cup, stargazing and the Luma light festival.
About three recipient charities will be selected.
Skyline’s also donating the popular jellybean cabin (above) to the nearby preschool and others to ‘‘people who’ve been involved since day one’’, GM Wayne Rose says.
Parent company Skyline Enterprises will retain one for its head office, another will go to cabin manufacturer, Doppelmayr, and one will go on the new viewing platform once the new top terminal’s been redeveloped
