Big Snow & Big New Lift at Whistler

Peak2Peak gondola a technological wonder and a skier's dream

The new Peak2Peak gondola that will be inaugurated on Friday, December 12, links two on-mountain stations on Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains, for the first time enabling people to ski/snowboard both mountains in a day without having to return all the way to Whistler Village. As if to bless the new lift (right, photo by Ian Anderson), the snow gods have been depositing fat white flakes on North America's biggest resort.

This state-of-the-art Doppelmayr 3S tri-cable gondola is a transport lift like no other. Its 16 Sky Cabins cross 2.73 miles (4.4 kilometers) from mountain to mountain. Between its farthest-apart beefy towers, built to withstand wind and weather, is the world’s longest unsupported span: a stunning 1.88 miles (3.024 kilometres) above Fitzsimmons Creek. It is also the world’s highest lift of its kind crossing the valley floor at a maximum of 1,427 feet (at 436 meters). The cabins were unveiled in September, and load testing began on October 1. Since then, skiers and riders have been salivating.

A Super Launch for a Super Lift

I wish I were going to the Peak2Peak launch but can only be there vicariously via a live webcast of launch ceremony -- and so can you. It will be transmitted beginning at 10:30 a.m. PST on http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/webcast. The official ribbon cutting is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. at the gondola terminals on both mountains.

The first cabin to take off from Blackcomb to Whistler will ferry 22 locals who were nominated as "the most deserving" in the resort's Ride of Their Life contest. In the first cabin from Whistler to Blackcomb will be auction winners who bid for the places, with auction proceeds going to the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation that supports community organizations throughout the Sea to Sky Corridor. The day will be full of festivities from breakfast to "grand" après-ski celebrations.