Cardrona 2008 season improvements

Thu 05 June 08

New Quad-chairlift, some monster kickers in the park and more snowmaking are the highlights for the new season

New Chairlift at Cardrona’s Captains Basin

The Captains Express chairlift’s speed will be two and a half times quicker than the existing quad with a journey only taking 3 ½ minutes versus the existing 9 minutes. Assuming no queue, a person who skied 11 runs at Captains Basin would ski them one hour faster due to faster chairlifts.

“This chairlift is one of the fastest chairlifts on the market and will mean an average Cardrona family will get lots more skiing and snowboarding on an average day”, say Gary Husband, Field Manager.

“The chairs are also more comfortable with padded seats and footrests, and the stations are covered just like our other high speed chairlift, the Whitestar”, says Husband.

Chairlift Details
Run time: 3.5 minutes; Speed 5.08 m/sec
Capacity: 2400 people / hour
Towers: 15; Chairs: 75
Length: 1069m; Vertical: 262m; 25% average grade

Additional Quotes
“The Captains Basin is the top intermediate basin in New Zealand with kilometres of blue runs across varied terrain. The new high speed chairlift means less time on a chair and more time building confidence on the slopes”, says Bruce McGechan, Sales and Marketing Manager.
“By the time the 2008 season starts Cardrona would have invested over $12 million in new developments over the last four years. This new chairlift is part of a steady improvement of the field that will continue for many years to come”, says Duncan Veall, General Manager.

New Advanced Triple Jump Line at Cardrona – Bigger, Bolder and Safer.

Cardrona has announced they will have three new jumps in their terrain park. These jumps are of 11m, 14m and 17m in length, and have been built in a safer “true table” design with little or no “step down”.

This means there is less height versus length compared to a step down, resulting in a safer jump due to less landing impact. A “true table” has a jump ramp that finishes at the same height as the start of the landing, whereas a “step down” has a ramp finish that is much higher than the start of the landing resulting in much more height in the jump.

These are the first “true table” jumps in New Zealand, and will result in snowboarders and skiers learning tricks more quickly, more safely and more spectacularly due to the confidence they inspire.

Advanced and pro skiers and snowboarders will be able to execute more technical tricks knowing they have more time in the air and less impact on landing.

The jumps are in the advanced terrain park, the Heavy Metal Park, and will replace the three step down jumps and 1 rail platform. This rail platform has been relocated to the bottom of the park. The jumps have already been completed, at a cost of $49,000. "With such a strong international and local freestyle base at Cardrona we needed to keep at the leading edge of terrain park design", says John Melville, Cardrona Terrain Park Designer. "I sat down and designed these with people like Jossi Wells (NZ X Games medal winner) and Tom Willmot (NZ Snowboard head coach) to ensure they are to a top international standard".

Snowmaking expanded to Cardrona’s Captain’s Basin

Snowmaking will be expanded into the Captain’s Basin at Cardrona Alpine Resort. Eleven new snow guns in addition to the thirteen guns in the Main Basin will supplement Cardrona’s renowned natural snow base.

It will give skiers and snowboarders peace of mind for a good start early in the season on the new Captains high speed detachable quad chairlift.

The snowmaking expansion will cost $1.4 million and will be completed before 1 June 2008 – the time the Resort starts making snow for a season opening date of 27 June.

The Captain’s snowmaking will be part of a fully automated snowmaking system. This means that should the right temperature and humidity levels be reached then snowmaking will start (without any human intervention), ensuring Cardrona maximizes snowmaking conditions at the start of the season.

“This will give skiers and boarders coming in June and July more peace of mind that snow conditions will be adequate to open chairlifts, even if there has been very little natural snow”, says Gary Husband, Field Manager at Cardrona.

Captain’s Snowmaking Facts:
Snow coverage in a night of snowmaking: 5500 m2 at 30cm depth
Length of Pipe from pump house to top of Captains: 2.46 km
Snow gun manufacturer: SMI Super PoleCat
Area 55,000 m2
Snow 21,000 m3
Main Basin Snowmaking Facts: Area 134,000 m2, Snow 40,200 m3

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