Christchurch Adventure Park begins installation of the longest chairlift in New Zealand

This week has seen the Christchurch Adventure Park commence the installation of the towers for what will be the longest chairlift in New Zealand.

Designed and manufactured by Doppelmayr in Austria, with component parts being shipped to New Zealand ready for installation, when complete the chairlift will run runs 1.8 kilometres from the Adventure Park village in Worsleys Valley up through the Cashmere Forest to the very top of the Port Hills.

The high speed chairlift will be capable of transporting up to 1,200 visitors and their bikes per hour to the top of the Port Hills where visitors will be able to connect to the Crater Rim walking tracks, the parks mountain bike tracks and a custom built dual 4 leg zip line tour.

Select Evolution New Zealand are developing the Christchurch Adventure Park and their New Zealand Director Darron Charity says the chairlift has been the most technically challenging part of the parks development.

Charity stated “the quantity of civil engineering and precision that has been involved in the design and construction of the chairlift is something else.

“Not only have we had to navigate the power lines we are building on a wide variety of ground conditions from clay to rock and everything in between.

“We have had to develop new access tracks within the forest so that we can get equipment to the towers. We have flown in over 195 cubic metres of concrete by helicopter during the winter as the terrain simply wasn’t able to accommodate the concrete trucks.”

With the chairlift to feature 14 towers that will run the length of the valley its foundations will include over 33 tonnes of steel and 400 cubic metres of concrete.

Karl Randall Project Manager for Doppelmayr New Zealand is delighted to bring this world first to New Zealand.

Randall explained “this chairlift is a world first for Doppelmayr (and) we are delighted to have been able to bring new developments to Christchurch.

“This chairlift will have unique features including a new bike carrier specifically designed for this project.

“The bike carrier looks simple but a lot of design work has gone into this to ensure that it was tested for different variations of wheel sizes, bike design and most importantly loading and unloading.

“It has been a co-ordinated approach to design, involving specialists ... here on the ground, (in) Australia and in Europe.”

“This project from start to finish has been an exciting challenge. Not only have we designed a world first we have had challenges of surveying within a forested area, terrain, weather and time constrains and on top of it technical details such as the installation between the base station and tower one supports only having a 5mm margin for error.

“So we have had to get it right. I’ve had a few sleepless nights but seeing it all come to fruitition has been well worth it.”

The chairlift is an integral part of the Stage One development which will also see the construction of the Adventure Park village which will house the ticketing office, bike rental and storage as well as a café seating over 200 people, and a world class 4 stage Zip Line tour.

The Christchurch Adventure Park remains on track to be officially opened in December 2016.

Images: The Christchurch Adventure Park (top), its plan (middle) and how it is set to be enjoyed (below).

8th September 2016 - CHRISTCHURCH ADVENTURE PARK ON TRACK FOR DECEMBER OPENING

2nd September 2016 - CHRISTCHURCH VISITOR SPENDING BOUNCES BACK

21st December 2016 - CHRISTCHURCH ADVENTURE PARK A FIRST FOR THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

26th October 2014 - PLANS REVEALED FOR CHRISTCHURCH ADVENTURE PARK