So, The Lower Mainland has finally tested it’s 1st bout of wintery weather this week-end: we had a beautiful wind storm on Friday, with hail, sun and falling leaves followed by a very gloomy Saturday, cold and rainy and very depressing. It was however a little more entertaining for some as SFU received it’s 1st snows of the season. Not much, mind you but noticeable enough.
Check the News Report on CTV for a glimpse of the snow falls on Saturday (It is at the very end of the clip).
And here’s Global TV’s report about the wind storm on Friday: A wind warning by Environment Canada predicting gusts over 90km/h. (strangely, I can’t seems to find historical data on Environment Canada site about Friday’s alert)
The above led me to think about the value of this SFU gondola: We had high winds on Friday and snow atop the mountain on Saturday. Although this was over a week-end it is an excellent test of the gondola’s potential reliability.
The winds were said to be over 90 km/h, which would have shut down the gondola. The maximum wind speed in which a 3S gondola can be safely operated have been reported as being around 80 km/h.
I didn’t hear anything about bus service disruption on Burnaby Mountain. (I can’t see anything posted on Translink’s Transit Alerts page)
In light of the above I would say that the numbers of days service has been shut down during the winter 2011-12:
- Gondola: 1
- Bus: 0
It would be informative to keep track of these conditions, seeing how many days bus service to SFU is actually interrupted this year versus how many days the gondola would potentially have to stop because of the winds.
3S gondola can actually withstand winds of 120km/hr.
For example, the whistler peak to peak.
I’ve found at least four other sources citing this or over 80km/hr, but as you chose not to cite your factoid, I’ll let you do some researching instead.
Check the Peak to Peak Gondola blog: http://www.peak2peakgondola.com/news/?p=59#more-59 and you’ll get 1st hand info: not 120km/h but 80km/h.
“The PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola will also be the most wind tolerant lift at Whistler Blackcomb, able to run in winds up to 80km/hr”
Although Doppelmayr says the gondola can winstand 100km/h winds.
I’m not sure what they mean by “with no decrease in performance.” as typically and as explained by Translink themselves during their so-called public meetings, the speed of the gondola diminishes when wind speed increases. As a safety and comfort measure.
No, if you have sources and links to gondola systems actually operating in winds of 120km/h, please feel free to post them here.
Hello!
here of some of the links and wind data for the area
I believe what they mean by “no decrease in performance” in that the gondola will operate as normal: speed, safety, etc, but that is only speculation. Gondolas can be slowed down to increase ridership comfort (movement of the cabin) but that is more relatively to wind direction which is covered in one of the links below.
http://univercity.ca/upload/GONDOLA_FEASIBILITY_STUDY_FINAL_EMAILABLE%20042209.pdf
(110km)
To avoid duplication, it includes the link to the manufactures of the peak to peak who also cite (110km)
http://www.imeko.org/publications/wc-2003/PWC-2003-TC15-013.pdf
(110km)
http://en.leitner-lifts.com/Products/Bicable-2S-and-Tricable-3S-ropeways
(120km)
http://old.tackyworld.com/snowboard/articles/display_article.asp?artikkelID=24923
(130km)
http://www.windatlas.ca/en/rose.php?field=E1&height=50&season=ANU&no=45&postal=V5A%201S6
average annual wind speed for burnaby mountain
(12km/hr)
Historical wind speeds are not available, nor could I find any for Burnaby as a whole.
http://climate.weatheroffice.gc.ca/climate_normals/results_e.html?stnID=731&lang=e&dCode=1&StationName=BURNABY&SearchType=Contains&province=ALL&provBut=&month1=0&month2=12
Wind data is available from the Vancouver Aiport (the only station recording wind speeds in the area?)
The maximum hourly wind speeds are within the safe range for a gondola. The maximum gust speeds are high and would be persumabley dangerous
regardless. That said, I would not expect winds of over 100km be safe for anyone, a tree could snap and impact
traffic, residents, buildings, and gondola. Also the months with extreme gust speeds also when transit is most impact by winter weather.
So this point would be mute. If we have wind speeds of 129km as experiened in December 1957 at the airport, it is likely
snow would also be an issue in that month, disrupting service for either transit mode. Frequency of days per year with winds above 63km/hr is relatively low (1.8) compared to
the days with snow or temperatures below zero.
the peak to peak has two main towers, the SFU gondola would have 5 and this would help increase stability.