It makes me giggle a bit to compare the romance of the
original gondolas to our still shiny, new Chondola at Cardrona Alpine Resort - I
don’t necessarily think of Swiss or Austrian mechanical engineers as purveyors
of romance. Still, as an instructor, I’d like to wax romantic about that
wonderful piece of Austro-Swiss engineering made for us by our friends at the
Doppelmayr / Garaventa group that we call MacDougal’s. I know it’s an odd
thought, but work with me here: there are things about our beloved Chondola and
what it allows us to do that make this instructor’s heart swoon, and it's one of the many reasons Cardrona is such a wonderful place to become a skier or a snowboarder.
Cardrona’s chondola replaced an old, fixed-grip, four-person
chair lift that was pretty typical of its vintage. It served us well but
didn’t really suit our ambitions as a resort. Most of the advantages of the new
lift, now almost done with its second winter of use, are obvious:
speed, capacity, reliability, comfort, convenience, bling (it’s pretty shiny!).
The details that make this piece of engineering so stirring for me, however,
are a little less obvious to the untrained eye, and there are a lot of them.
Take the upholstery of the chairs, for example. Yes, the
upholstery. The six seats on each chair alternate red and black. Conveniently,
those are our Cardrona colors, but it’s far more than that. When we’re with new skiers loading a
chairlift for the first time there are an awful lot of details to the process
that can make them nervous, not the least of which are starting at the gate and
then stopping on the red line precisely when and where is needed, and then
aiming for the correct spot on the chair with five other people. Scary,
uncomfortable, and a little too personal at times. Now, it’s a simple ‘eyeball
your spot’, or ‘you’re in that red seat on the end’. It’s a small but
substantial difference that has pretty far-reaching effects on everyone’s
confidence and comfort-level. Color-coded seats rock.
Next example, just to make us all feel better, is the safety
bar. Every other chairlift safety bar I’ve seen that has a foot rest attached
to it rests against the front of the chair with a metal bar on the outside of
each rider’s knees. These work well for adults, but wriggly little kids who are
excited to be skiing and who have trouble sitting still on the chair can make
us pretty nervous. Leaving no detail to chance, the fine engineers of our shiny
new Chondola created a solution: the safety bars on MacDougal’s rest against
the chair in between each rider’s
knees and lock in place. That means that even the kid with worst shpilkes
(a/k/a “ants in their pants”) can wriggle all he wants and still remain safely
in their seat. Phew!
And then, last in my hit list but first in my heart, are the
gondola cabins themselves. Oh gondola cabins, how I do love thee; let me count
the ways! The speed of MacDougal’s and it’s ease of loading means that we can
stay with our guests practicing on our wonderful beginner slope with its
tunnel-covered lift for far longer, generating far more confidence than before
and then still have plenty of time to make the move to the top of the mountain
when they’re truly ready to ski or ride on Skyline. More importantly, we can
make that first trip down the mountain without having had to go through that
harrowing first chairlift ride up it, and that’s been a real game-changer for
our guests who are new to the sport. Loooove the cabins!
There is, however, one more thing about the gondola cabins
on MacDougal’s that most people don’t consider; something hiding in plain sight.
Like all things romantic it’s about inspiration, plain and simple. When we’re
working with first-time skiers and riders, they usually are not ready to ski or
ride from the top of the mountain during their first two-hour lesson. Often,
making sure that they’re happy to do so, I like to take these guests on a ride
to the top in a gondola cabin, leaving our skis at the bottom. We get off at
the top, walk the few steps up to the ridgeline to see the stunning view of the
Southern Alps and Lake Wakatipu, take some photos, and then enjoy the leisurely
trip back down in a cabin. The view from up there is genuinely inspirational
and is frequently shockingly gorgeous. Still, that’s not the best part.
The best part of the sightseeing ride up is that
when our guests are on our bespoke beginner hill they are surrounded by other
beginners and their instructors and usually are so focused on what they’re
doing that they don’t really get to see much else. Taking that ride up the
gondola often is the first time they gain a real sense of perspective on where
they are and, more importantly, what skiing and snowboarding can be like.
Athletes in the park, in the pipe, and racing down All Nations are all in
immediate view, as are so many experienced skiers and riders of all levels just
having fun on all sorts of terrain. Our first time guests really get to see skiing and riding outside the
beginner bubble. With a little simple explanation from their instructor, they
can attach what they’ve been learning to what they see happening all over the
resort. And that’s when the romance hits. “Wow, I would love to be able to do that!
I would love to ski or ride there!”. Suddenly, their learning has a
clearer purpose and direction, as though they can step out and see the horizon
and put it all in perspective. That shining moment of inspiration is worth its
weight in gold, for us as instructors and for our guests. For me, it renews my
passion for snow sports every time, it reminds me why I love being a ski
teacher, and I fall in love with our MacDougal’s Chondola all over again. A
little pinot gris and Puccini would still be nice, but then that’s why Cardrona
put a café up at the top station! Glass of bubbly with a view anyone?
