We are no longer counting years, months, weeks or days...We are now counting down the final hours before we fire up the Chondola for good! Preparations are now underway for the biggest party of the winter as we celebrate the Chondola’s Grand Opening Saturday night. Festivities include live entertainment, special speakers which include Governor John Baldacci and Stephen Kircher, President of Boyne Eastern Operations. We will also be joined by the big man himself, Santa along with some other surprises and a classic Sunday River fireworks spectacular are sure to make this a night to remember. Finally we cap it off with free night skiing and riding under our new lights and après at the Foggy Goggle. The party starts at 6 in South Ridge, we can’t wait to see you there!

Getting the Signs up

Signs, Signs everywhere a Sign

View from a Cabin

North Peak!!

After a successful downloading test on the Chondola, focus has now shifted to the uphill tests. The lift will now be loaded to 100% uphill capacity and again go through a variety of tests. The weight for the chairs is supplied with boxes filled with water, while the cabins are still loaded with the bags of ice-melt.

The load test of the Chondola is well underway now as the crews are working on the downloading portion of the test. Using bags of ice melt for weight in the gondola cabins they are now putting the lift through a variety of tests on its abilty to bring passengers from North Peak back down to South Ridge. This afternoon crews will start the uphill tests using boxes filled with water in the chairs, along with the cabins filled with the ice melt to run a variety of uphill tests. More pictures to come!

With the cable in place the team ran the first official test today, running gondola cabin for a few trips through the bottom terminal.  Conveniently, ski and snowboard reps from across New England where at South Ridge today for our annual demo days and got to see the cabin passing overhead for the first time.  Make your plans now to get up here on December 20 for the Grand Opening.

Join us on December 20 at 6:00pm to celebrate the opening of the Chondola! 

Festivities include a spectacular fireworks show, live music, special guests, an official ribon-cutting ceremony, an after party in the Foggy Goggle, and most importantly the first opportunity to ride the Chondola and ski Sunday River's trails under the lights. 

Special ski and stay packages for the weekend are available for just $89 including lodging in our condominiums or Snow Cap Inn and lift tickets -- call 800-543-2SKI to book.

See you there!

Work on the Chondola continues as the critical step of splicing the haul rope together is underway. It's an amazing process to watch the workers unravel and rewind the cable ends back together. Check out these photos of our hard working crew making ends meet as the start date for the Chondola is fast approaching. In the background you can also see some of our new fan guns at work.

Much progress has been made to the Chondola's top terminal.  Workers continue to install the communication line while others work on installing the electrical boards, engines, lift house and slab.  At the bottom terminal, the cable is being winched through each tower using a tag line.

 Main Engine

Deisel Back-Up Engine

With the base slab in place, crews have gone to work building the Chondola's lift house.  The communications line is installed and runs down the center of the towers and tomorrow, crews will start threading the cable through each tower using a previously installed line also known as a “tag line”.  Not far off in the distance is more evidence that winter is here!  

With the bottom terminal nearly completed the cement trucks returned today to pour the slab that will connect the Chondola base with the rest of the area in front of South Ridge Lodge.  The entire area is heated (note orange tubes in photos) to keep snow and ice from building up. 

One of the shiny new gondola cabins was hung on the bottom terminal today as crews complete earth work around the base of the terminal and under the chair/cabin track.