June 2007 No. 172 • 32nd year Double T-bar lift Chekeril 1 and 2 near Izhevsk in Central Russia, to the west of the Urals, built in 2006. More about Russia on p.14 Fully automatic station parking One of the Doppelmayr/Garaventa for the 8-MGD Reckmoos in Fieberbrunn p.2 Group‘s most unusual installations is the Germany: Indoor ski centers are a growing trend 78-passenger reversible tram Marquam Doppelmayr equips two new indoor ski centers in Northern Germany p.4 Hill in the city of Portland, Oregon/USA. The USA‘s first combined lift in the Sierra Nevada p.20 The Northstar-at-Tahoe ski resort upgrades comfort and capacity p.18 45,000 torsion bar grips Lift managers praise reliability and simple maintenance p.22 Magazine for Customers and Employees 2 Doppelmayr/Garaventa-Group Fully automatic station parking Fieberbrunn describes MD Toni Nieder- itself as ”Austria‘s best wieser, Bergbahnen Fieberbrunn: ”We‘re hidden ski resort”. But highly satisfied with in view of the highly Doppelmayr!“ innovative technology used on the lifts, The new 8-passen- Bergbahnen Fieberbrunn ger gondola lift Reckmoos provides ac- certainly has no reason to cess to idyllic sunny slopes above 2,000 hide. On the new m. The lift is fitted with RPD. 8-MGD Reckmoos, the Less construction volume company has installed Doppelmayr‘s first fully The technical highlight of the installation 1 automatic station parking is the automatic station parking system . The cabins are accommodated by divid- system. ing them equally between the top station, the bottom station and the parking facil- ity. The parking operation is as follows: Once the operating mode has been switched over to ”parking“, the carriers run at nor- mal speed as far as the accelerator as- sembly. The station curve, the accelera- tor and finally the decelerator are then filled at low speed (1.5 m/s). The entire a convoy with two cabins, as stipulated process is completed in 28 minutes. by the regulations. Positioning the carriers on the rope at the Managing Director Toni Niederwieser start of operations is also performed au- from Bergbahnen Fieberbrunn is full of tomatically. praise for Doppelmayr. ”Quite apart Both during the parking operation and from the fact that the installation crew when feeding the carriers onto the line, did an excellent job and the transport lo- positioning and transport are performed gistics worked without a hitch, we were by a chain conveyor in the area of the decelerator and accelerator. The chain 8-MGD Reckmoos conveyor itself is housed under cover at Transport capacity 2,200 PPH the side of the standard station enclosure and is readily accessible. Trip time 4.9 min Travel speed 6.0 m/s Very reliable parking system Carriers 53 Interval 13.1 s The parking system has very few parts and is very reliable. Manual parking of Inclined length 1,725 m the carriers is nonetheless possible when- Vertical rise 590 m ever necessary. In the evening, after pas- Towers 10 senger service has been closed down 1 Drive Top A further development of Doppelmayr‘s proven and the cabins have been parked, the lift hydraulic parking system which was introduced Tension Bottom onto the market for the first time in 1995. operator can ride up to the top station in - 3 Doppelmayr/Garaventa-Group Being– and staying – successful Interalpin confirmed that Doppelmayr is on the right track. Together with our customers, we bear joint responsibility for the economic and ecological future of our industry. This applies not only to tourist resorts but also to urban agglom- erations. We aim to meet that commitment through our constant drive for innova- tion and technology leadership. The over 17,000 visitors to our exhibition stand were given an impressive demon- stration of our pole position in the glo- bal ropeway market. Items showcased included our seat heating systems, our RPD rope position detection system and large carriages for heavy reversible aerial tramways. Our sister companies – such as CWA – also exemplified the high level of technology and design which are standard throughout the Dop- pelmayr/Garaventa Group. We came away from the Interalpin show with a great deal of recognition and a host of ideas. Those ideas have immediately been incorporated into our Efficient utilization of construction volume with the fully automatic station parking plans for the future. Every Doppelmayr/ system from Doppelmayr. With 53 carriers to accommodate, a small parking facility Garaventa customer can be sure that was a necessity in view of the unusually high number of cabins. The UNI-G permits a their concerns will be taken seriously total of 40 cabins to be housed in the bottom and top stations. and the appropriate steps conscien- tiously implemented. particularly impressed by Doppelmayr‘s We want to be the best possible part- flexibility during the planning and nego- ner for our customers and thus ensure tiating phase.“ that we are always recommended as being the best. Fast – simple – always available The key features of Doppelmayr‘s automatic station parking system for chairlifts and gondola lifts 1.) Always available – Carrier positioning is automatic; in exceptional cases, manual parking can be performed very easily. The parking technology and the main ropeway system are independent of each other. Michael Doppelmayr 2.) Maintenance-friendly – When the V-belts on the tire conveyor are retightened, there is no need to move the proximity switches or reprogram the control system. 3.) Simple principle – Few electronic parts such as switches, contactors, pneu- matic valves, etc. 4.) Very rapid parking and launching onto the line. 4 Doppelmayr/Garaventa-Group Germany: Indoor ski centers are a growing trend Germany currently Both centers stay open until late into the Jakob Falkner, Man- has fi ve indoor ski night. They offer the atmosphere of an aging Director of Austrian ski village with restaurants deco- Bergbahnen Sölden centers which are open rated in the appropriate style. In addition, and the SnowDome all year round. In the they house shops where ski equipment in Bispingen (photo late fall of 2006, the can be hired and purchased, ski schools right): ”We are 1 facilities in Bispingen and an effi ciently run infrastructure of entirely satisfi ed with conference, hotel, wellness and leisure Doppelmayr.“ (Lower Saxony) and amenities which are either incorporated Wittenburg (Mecklenburg- into the center or located close by. The Automatic locking of the restraining Vorpommern) went into SnowDome/Bispingen has a workforce bar of 180, the Snow Funpark/Wittenburg operation. Bispingen employs over 300 people. The automatically locking restraining hopes to attract 360,000 bars2 which cannot be opened during visitors a year, while To Sölden via the SnowDome the trip3 represent a safety enhancement Wittenburg expects to see which is fi rst and foremost for the benefi t The SnowDome in Bispingen, 60 km of children. Furthermore, an additional 730,000. south of Hamburg, goes back to an idea cross bar underneath the restraining bar of Jakob Falkner, Managing Director cuts the risk of small children slipping out of Bergbahnen Sölden. As he explains: of the seat. To ensure optimal use of the ”Sölden already has a lot of visitors from available space in the center the loading the Hamburg region. We want to cre- and unloading areas are at 90° to the ate an even stronger market position for ropeway axis. ourselves ‘at the source‘.“ Another major consideration was the fact that 6.5 million Snow Funpark Wittenburg – people with relatively high purchasing Europe‘s biggest indoor ski center power live within an hour‘s drive away. This meant that the conditions were right The Snow Funpark Wittenburg, an hour‘s for the center to be economically viable, drive to the east of Hamburg, is Europe‘s particularly as the guests would not only biggest indoor ski center. Coopera- include active skiers but also those who tion has already been agreed with the just wanted to enjoy the hospitality ser- European sport region of Zell am See/ vices. Kaprun. Discussions with other famous Alpine resorts are ongoing. The lifts are fi xed to the roof structure Columns structure the interior and The SnowDome is seen as Europe‘s top- serve as lift towers notch ski center - in part because it is the only one with a detachable ski lift. The The center lies directly alongside the A slope is up to 100 m wide and 300 m 24 between Hamburg and Berlin. It of- long, with a gradient of between 9% fers 30,000 m² of ski slope and an FIS- and 20%. The Dome covers an area of approved halfpipe. Supporting columns 1 In Bispingen, for example, Ralph Schumacher 2 runs a go-cart track next to the SnowDome. 23,000 m . in the center of the Funpark split the area 2 Proper locking is monitored automatically The detachable 6-seater chairlift and the in two, with the halfpipe on one side and 3 In the event of excessive resistance against the platter lift are fi xed to the roof structure. A the main slope, which is 330 m long and restraining bar in the station (e.g. if a passenger height-adjustable loading carpet makes 40 m wide, on the other. becomes stuck), the opening or closing rail will boarding the chairlift particularly conven- The lifts are fi xed to the supporting col- lower or rise respectively and the lift is automati- cally shut down. ient for children. umns. There are gently sloping ski runs and one steep descent. Beginners and 5 Doppelmayr/Garaventa-Group Hamburg entrepre- 1-SL Ötzilift, Bispingen 4-CLF Snow Funpark neur Hans-Gerd Transport capacity 710 PPH Transport capacity 2,375 PPH Hanel is the general Trip time 2.1 min Trip time 2.6 min proprietor and driv- ing force behind the Travel speed 2.0 m/s Travel speed 1.8 m/s indoor ski center in Towing outfi ts 52 Carriers 55 Wittenburg Interval 5.1 s Interval 6.1 s Inclined length 242 m Inclined length 288 m Vertical rise 38 m Vertical rise 56 m children can enjoy themselves on a 90 m long and 40 m wide practice slope.