Peak To Peak - Engineering Documentary

[Music] there's no reason why we should record stop board up their Road it's the most difficult ski-lift project ever we're not as far as head as we'd like to be right now a sophisticated new kind of gondola this is a very very big deal designed to conquer a massive valley known for hurricane-force winds the peak-to-peak gondola is a high-flying exercise and big courage I'm sure there's some shaky knees out there big perseverance they just beat the crap out of that road they'll push through winter storms high-altitude disasters and a deadline that if missed will transform all this into a gold medal embarrassment this could put us back a year [Music] [Music] Canada's beautiful coastal mountains home to North America's biggest ski resort Whistler Blackcomb every morning thousands of skiers pour onto its Twin Peaks looking for adventure the backbone of the resort is its high speed lift network it can move 55,000 people an hour of each of the two mountains but if you want to get from one peak to the other you're out of luck a steep unforgiving valley separates the two mountains we made a PowerPoint presentation and I just like to share it with all of you before Wayne will see the man who runs whistlers lift network conquering this valley with a ski lift is an obsession we looked at trims we've looked at taking chairlifts down into the valley but with all of those options you have to skeet down low Traverse across and then ride back up a journey that would require an hour of travel time and up to four new chair lifts Wayne has always wanted a single lift across the entire valley but spanning 4.4 kilometres with gondola cars hanging from a single ribbon of steel cable is a tall order is having a rope that's strong enough to not only support the load but to support itself across that huge span another problem is the winds they can chop 80 kilometres an hour the kind of thing that caused gondola cars like these to swing violently like pendulums Austrian engineers from ski lifts maker Doppel Meyer have been trying to solve the problem for ten years they now think they have found the perfect solution they call it the peak to peak 3s the concept is simple enough if one cable isn't strong enough to do the job why not use three to share the load one cable would run on a continuous loop just like current chairlifts gondolas would clamp on and hitch a ride but for extra stability in the wind two more cables would be mounted a metre apart forming a kind of railroad in the sky that gondola cars would wheel across eliminating the pendulum effect so it's not able to swing on the two cables it's solid it's the logic terminal in the world right now yes doppel Meier has convinced Twain and Whistler that this will work when it's complete the engineers promise it will be the largest ski lift on earth shattering at least four world records in a place where extreme is expected the resort can't resist [Music] but this will be no easy build it will have to be done in record time Whistler Blackcomb is about to host the biggest winter sporting event on the planet the Winter Olympics and a gondola is a big part of the games to make their deadline Whistler has turned to one of the best in the business so we might be looking at an alternate back plan if it keeps going like this Rick temple is a no-nonsense guy who built his first ski lift 30 years ago we just got it pushed this weekend and get it done he's supposed to be sipping mai tais in Mexico but the resort has talked him out of retirement to do one last big build okay sounds good peak to peak will dwarf anything rick has done before and he knows the resorts reputation is in his hands the whole world's gonna be looking at them and I think they're very concerned that this thing comes off without any hitches Construction season high on a mountain is short they'll have only a few months of good weather over the next two summers to get it done too short summers yeah already they're feeling the squeeze we lost some time at the beginning of the project of the heavy snow pack and the late spring we had a lot of miserable weather this weekend is critical that slowed us down getting out of the ground can you deploy this today to try to I could get some bud yeah anchoring the gondola cables to each mountain will require enormous foundations each three stories thick that means tons of concrete so where we going a block home but a building boom down in the valley has created a serious shortage I would say up top there with that pump truck we're probably running at 25% for lucky today well they want another two enough ok very good you said it'd be at least an hour wait after my third truck here everybody's crying for concrete and we're all trying to slot our times in there to get it the concrete shortage has slowed the build to a crawl you want a truck one after the another as soon as one is finished you want the next one in there to make things worse the trucks are not only arriving late they're arriving light who's this guy behind Rick has just learned the rigs are only hauling 3/4 loads so normally he can he can haul like I think it's 1112 yards and you know he's holidays the problem in the winter this road is a ski run it's steep slippery and narrow it was not built for concrete trucks the concrete supplier is worried about what the road is doing to his equipment well anytime there's uneven roads with a heavy load the the driveline universals are the weakest part of the of the truck drive line and that's what tends to go wrong with construction of the Foundation's moving at a glacial pace Rick turns his attention to another problem just down from the worksite engineering drawings call for this chairlift to be moved out of the flight path of the new gondola the top terminal of solar coaster will have to shift downhill 50 meters the centerline of the new lip pretty well goes through the center of the of the solar coaster terminal here house movers have been brought in to lift Solar coaster onto a trailer so it's got to be moved very gingerly and carefully in a position twisting or worse dropping the hundred and fifty tons station would damage it beyond repair costing the resort a vital transportation link up the mountain we can't end up torquing that terminal or twisting and bending it or or whatever just you stay right here leading the move is Peter Christensen if you don't have a brace properly with a very high center of gravity like that it could just fall over he has removed two of solar coasters small towers and built a rock bed to smooth out some of the dips on the ski slope Betty okay don't do anything until I tell you you can start releasing some brakes we'll be ready on the brakes for a freewheeling though when they do start to move the station creeps down the mountain that's working good gravity's starting to work for us a new foundation has been built for solar coaster the trailer moves directly over the Bulls hold up hold up but the holes aren't lining up you're lining up the back ends a little off here it's perfect will fine-tune it it takes time adjustment stop hold it and a little bit of muscle now looks pretty good but solar coaster eventually settles into position three weeks later and Rick's concrete problems have just gotten a lot worse now there's the first truck now this is the year that we already did want early snow and this is earliest I think I've seen it over that in the past 15 years here so now we got we got to deal with it I'll let you know if I did anything go sideways here lower on the mountain where it's warmer the snow has already melted turning the steep road into a slippery mucky mess the drivers would you know they're having a hell of a time you know we're on the verge of reckon our stuff they're having trouble at 2.3 earlier in the day one of the concrete trucks got stuck less than a quarter way up the mountain really muddy rick scrambles to do something but not before the concrete supplier calls it quits we basically just don't look we're sorry but we can't come up we're not sending more load till they fix the road if the gondola is going to open on time these foundations must be finished before the road is closed for the ski season without concrete and with winter rapidly closing in Rick's schedule is in deep trouble there's no reason why we should record stuff board up their Road on the twin mountains of Whistler Blackcomb a team of engineers has dreamed up a revolutionary new way to move people from one mountain peak to another they call it the peak-to-peak gondola when it's done it will be the longest and highest cable span in the world pardon me Rick temple is supposed to be running this project I don't know what they were hauling through there and they just beat the crap writer that road right now he's just running to survive the concrete trucks they had a little trouble and he's just been told that his concrete supplier has had enough and has pulled his trucks from the job when he called and said he was pulling the trucks off the off the road I wasn't happy and I'll tell you Steve's a psych superintendent up top he he was ready to pull his hair out there's no reason why we should wreck our stuff going up their road without concrete work on the mountain stations has stopped Rick must think fast would we do any good by by hauling heavier crush in there the new snow has turned the steep road that snakes 11 kilometers up the mountain into a muddy mess and we're just fighting a losing battle yeah Dan Rick temple here the concrete company has agreed to return to the mountain but only after crushed rock is dumped on the road the rock should help with traction so I just want to give you the assurance that we're doing all we can here and we'll have that road in good shape for you tomorrow you can't afford this delay to last more than a day with the slowdown on the road Rick turns his attention to construction of the support towers the concrete foundation for Tower 2 was finished two weeks ago we just got the powerhead stealing in the last couple of days here we've been hauling it up here it's rising from the mountain quickly the towers will hold the gondola cables just above the ground for about a third of the trip on each side until the valley floor falls away [Music] this is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world and 20 stories above the ground the pressure is on to pick up the face the weather's good dig and pour the same day but for now things are looking good on the towers and back down on the road 24 hours after the concrete trucks stop the crushed rock is in place the mud is gone and Rick is back in business so where are we going a black hole trucks start rolling again right away they now have just five weeks until the road is closed for good they're in a race with Mother Nature we've lost a little bit of time here we just did through the inclement weather by mid-november two of the towers are almost finished these guys are working as quickly as they can the station's are taking shape but snow closes the road down for good [Applause] Rick pulls the plug the last of the heavy equipment is moved off the mountain in a fierce storm peak-to-peak is done for this year work will resume in the spring the break on the construction site gives Wayne Wiltse the guy who will operate the finish lifts a chance to check in on progress in Europe I think it looks great before the mechanical parts are shipped to the mountain they are assembled like a giant jigsaw puzzle at Doppel Meijer Factory in Austria by doing the pre assembly in the shop here there there assured that everything is gonna fit then we get different analyst we have I seen two or three days head engineer Peter lunar will arrive in Whistler in a few months to put all this back together again to prepare to disassemble but the most important part of the giant lift system isn't here the cables are being assembled at another factory just across the Swiss border in all the peak-to-peak project requires 26 and a half kilometers of massive steel rope it will take a year to complete them they'll be shipped on five separate spools each one weighing more than 90 tons one of the biggest challenges is transporting the ropes over we cannot afford to to damage these ropes I mean it's a one-time thing Wayne and Whistler vice-president Doug Forsyth head for the factory where the cables are being made we lay two layers at the same time so that machine turns right the front turns left the cables are made of dozens of steel wires woven together just like a giant piece of yarn so we want to achieve a very smooth ride so what you do is you use Zee wires and stay interlocked with one another you have an absolute round surface perfect right super experience and a happy customer the Whistler team has arrived at a critical time in the cable making process before any of these can leave the factory each must pass a destructive test how much does it actually take to break that rope today engineers will stretch a piece of the hall cable until it snaps the normal operating conditions we hang 30 tons on that rope and that means we need a four and a half times safety so we're looking at a hundred and fifty tons this hydraulic ram will put that theory to the test a small section from the back end of the cable is clamped into the machine if this piece fails early a new cable will have to be built and the peak-to-peak gondola will not make its opening date I on Whistler Blackcomb the skiers have taken over and the work has stopped on the peak-to-peak gondola in Europe the massive steel cables that will support the gondola cars are almost finished whistlers top brass is inspecting the process knowing the final assembly of the cables is critical to the construction schedule [Applause] a ship is waiting to take the cables to North America before the cables can leave the factory they must pass a critical test a 5 meter section has been cut off and placed in a powerful machine that will stretch it to failure and we hopefully see that they will make it if the cable is flawed it will fail early and a new one will have to be built delaying the gondolas opening by months see how good it is when I say go just plug your ears the Machine starts to pull in opposite directions the cable groans as the stress builds two and a half minutes into the test but this is important for us a computer records the breaking point well they proved to be 1585 kilonewtons the required break II strings worse 1523 translation this is a super strong cable far stronger than the engineers had hoped and we reach the minimum required breaking thing if he stamps the papers then it's approved the gondola is still on track thank you thank you spring arrives in Whistler right on time what a gorgeous day oh yeah despite record snowfall over the winter project manager Rick temple decides to get to work right away we got two cats on either side and they're gonna run 20 hours a day the important thing is to open the road give the road a chance to dry out but the crews can't wait for the snow to be clear delays last year have left the concrete work behind schedule so Rick takes to the air hauling concrete with helicopters can't lose any more time today was pretty well at drop-dead date for us to get concrete done so that we're ready for Dalton where when their crews come in on the fourth of May right there and hold the height hold the height it's coming out [Music] all within a few weeks the towers are complete down in town they're waiting for the cables to arrive from Europe across through the Panama and up to Vancouver Washington they were transferred a few days ago from a ship to a train but like lost baggage at an airport the five spools each wing more than a Space Shuttle have somehow vanished to a cloth Kevin Carroll and Herrmann aren't savvy beneath it to help both to see you again are in charge of moving them from Switzerland to the top of Whistler it's frustrating because it's difficult to complete your plans so we've been kind of flying by the seat of our pants a little bit for the last few days you know obviously they want the first one up so they can start pulling the rope the missing cables are holding up the entire project nothing today and we expect the training maybe by 8 or 9 o'clock tomorrow night when they head to the rail yard to check on the preparations for the arrival of the cables they find another problem the head of the National Railway is in town for a golf tournament and has decided to park his luxury rail car on the track needed to unload the cables one man's vacation could cost the peak-to-peak project yet another delay if something isn't done fast it doesn't take long before Herman cooks up a plan yeah he actually invested of some of our pension fund in the CN Rail and then called the Investor Relations of CN as a major investor in the railway Herman is put through to the president who promises to clear the track Toronto it's not the first time he's done something like that I've actually learned from him to deal with a lot of problems that way go straight to the top and hit me by morning the luxury car has moved and by dusk that cables are rolling into town they have to burn all these brackets off the deck of the rail car the next morning Rick temple and his team are ready to go [Applause] as they head for the mountain Kevin isn't sure what to expect I mean we're moving this up a ski trail basically it's a ski trail that the snow has been cleared from Rick and Herrmann decide to throw everything they can at the low leaving lot eight heading for the Alpine the transport truck will get pulled and pushed up the mountain with heavy road equipment 2,000 horsepower is still not enough the truck struggles through what is supposed to be the easy part they're still on pavement and less than 1/10 of the way up the mountain a tow bar snaps the peak-to-peak gondola rode here right now is stalled again in the mountains north of Vancouver North America's largest ski resort as just six months to finish what will be the world's largest ski lift in all more than 26 kilometers of cable has been carefully woven together for the job the first of five 90 ton spools is on its way up the mountain the cables should have been on top of the mountain two weeks ago the crew is moving as fast as they can [Applause] [Music] and this tow bar has just snapped they are less than 1/10 of the way up the mountain and this is supposed to be the easy section dead in the water on the road here right now when we ask for more power we broke the bold door the swing [Music] that's the other very big one or we got big ones oh yeah a sling is flexible and strong made of tiny strands of Teflon bundled together okay within minutes whistlers resident mr. Fixit Billy Styles is on the job you got over 60 tons with a safety factor which is gives you a 300-ton breaking strength here so I don't think that there's gonna be a problem there the solution to this problem hopefully within an hour they're rolling again progress is slow but the Teflon rope is holding that's not the steepest section yet we've got a much steeper one yet Rick walks up front and as if he doesn't have enough to worry about already one of his crew is coming down with the flu and my stomach making all kind of noise I'm just working the road now with rage on just in case he does get sick at least we can we can keep this thing going over the next couple days they'll fight through mud holes hairpin corners [Music] uneven road that threatens to topple trailer in spool but halfway up the mountain hey the 40-ton just blew a tire yet another delay on a move that should have happened days ago we're organizing a new tire for that in the meantime we've got a crew headed for another big rock truck on Whistler and what mobilize out and get it over here by the time they get it fixed and claw their way to the top of the mountain it's almost dark they've just worked a 19-hour day walked 11 kilometres all of it uphill 190 tonne real down or more to go pulling that kind of things and those sharp curve and those hills you know that was very harder than what I was thinking with the concrete work done and the cable on the mountain the pressure shifts from Rick temple to Peter Luger and his team from Austria the first thing they must do is string the cables over each tower and across the valley they're already behind schedule but Peter knows they can't afford to rush you know pulling we must be sure that we don't touch the ground mr. Jack Hope because that puts damage the fat coats the steel cable is too heavy to pull across the valley with a helicopter so they'll start with a lighter nylon rope carefully placing it over each tower check that break off the crew on the ground keeps tension on the line so the helicopter can accurately place the cable they'll repeat this five times once for each cable over the next few days the cables will be clamped to the nylon line and winched across the valley over the towers once a cross the cables are anchored into place inside the station's six weeks later and the track cables on both sides of the tower along with the new haul rope are in place we're gonna keep this this area clear here the gondola cars are ready to go out on the line these are real Cadillac cabins okay guys let's lose the first cabin hitching a ride across the valley a one-way trip takes only 11 minutes this lift must now run for 100 hours straight to prove it's working properly Wayne Wiltse and his Whistler crew will use the time to train staff on how to run the lift and keep it safe I'm ready when you are but just when things seemed to be going perfectly here yeah really there's big trouble on the cable it's not good 100 kilometres north of Vancouver whistlers twin peaks' tower over North America's biggest ski resort engineers have managed to link the two mountains for the first time ever with a massive gondola 4.4 kilometres long Billy styled it's not gonna go to a spa wayne Wiltse and the crew from Doppel meyer are high on tower 3 testing a safety system for the gondola with just six weeks till opening there are still thousands of tiny details that need to be looked after chief engineer Peter Luger makes sure nothing is missed you have to always keep your swings up okay as they wrap up what's been a pretty productive day and get ready to head home Billy this notice is a problem here ya are belly the haul rope isn't structure odor but it's the propulsion system for the entire gondola it's what pulls the cars across the valley if the damage is severe the cable will have to be replaced here you know hopefully it's a it's not that bad so it's kind of disappointing right now I mean things were going very well but but the damage is the kind of thing that could threaten the resort's big grand opening now just a few weeks away you do lose your breath for a moment and you think oh man what's this gonna mean because I know how long it takes to manufacture the cable how long it's like to get it here and the possibilities are going through my mind is this could put us back a year it might be next year before we open this thing if we've really really damaged the damaged section is moved into the terminal just some things before nothing Peter snaps pictures an email several back to Europe the my feelings it's happened I cannot change it so doesn't make sense if I get crazy we have to keep cool minds and do the right steps you know what'll happen is if it doesn't go back Wayne will see is trying to stay positive we have potentially to you know there would just be potentially two broken wires yeah they have been better days than today a day and a half later norm Duke one of the best cable splicers in the world arrives see all the damage is down here so we want to roll the whole the damaged section is isolated and winches are used to loosen the tension on the cable allowing norm to inspect and move individual wires maybe or the whole thing two hundred and sixteen individual steel wires woven together allow the cable to hold 150 tons of weight almost five times what's needed to hold up the gondola cars so that means that can be broken wires that's false an investigation has revealed that the damage was done during a test of a rarely used emergency system a clamp on the top of one of the cars pinched the cable while workers were adjusting it as the cars passed over a tower shavings from the cable have been discovered on top of one of the cabins that definitely had too much pressure on the carriage and definitely came across here with enough force the grabs and wires [Music] while norm figures out what to do Peter Luger is trying to figure out how to prevent it from happening again we have to improve part of the process that we will do immediately don't know how at the moment but I have an idea and be able to immediately go for it inside after two hours of careful examination norm Duke has some good news none of the wires are broken looking up a few are bent and out of place but norm is confident this isn't as bad as it looks Freddie yeah we want to work the wires back into the rope and have a nice smooth surface with everything working together the pinched wires will need to be teased back into place and like a surgeon no arm goes to work we pounded the wires back into their shape and then this is just to hold it in place till the tension goes goes on this is looking really good but before the repair is complete it must pass Peter Lugar's inspection as a final check the cable is passed through a machine that detects any flaws or internal damage to the wires the entire cable loop eight point eight kilometres long is examined the area that was repaired looks flawless okay we stop but the damage has vanished but it looks good huh oh it's place looks beautiful it's it's so perfect you know Peter is relieved I feel good now I feel much better the peak-to-peak gondola has dodged a bullet but they know they're not out of the woods yet we need to get the hundred hour runtime and we need to commission the lifts and it's piling up ready boys the lifts won't get its license to operate until engineers can prove that this won't happen again Peter and his team from Doppel Myer think they have the solution we made a brainstorming and at the end we found a easygoing solution over the next day plans for a new tool to protect the cable are sketched out on the back of a napkin engineers from Austria draw up blueprints and work on the shop floor starts almost immediately with only a few weeks to go the tool will have to be built and shipped to Whistler well before opening day it's a tight schedule but Peter knows they must make it and if we don't reach those dates our clients won't be happy and at the end their clients the skiers and the boarders won't be happy with the engineering troubles under control at least for now the focus shifts to the problem of staffing the massive highly advanced ski lifts we're getting to the point now oh we need to get the training done with this weather windowing crews will need to know how to operate repair and carry out rescues 140 stories above the valley floor there are so many redundancies so that we really can push the rescue case far far far away and I hope it never happens but shoot a cabin ever gets stuck out on the line it won't stay there for long Peter Lugar's team has installed four high wire tow trucks the fos Q carriage which is parked on the tower to Attalus we'd been for you should have a reset now rescuers will ride down the line hook on and drag the stranded car back to safety on either side of the valley John you want to go with these guys Billy needs to find and train dozens of rescuers on how to make this system work up here you better be comfortable with Heights I love it right it's it's awesome these up there that wasn't feet off the death I'm sure there's some shaky knees out there but the crews aren't going to let a little fear of heights slow them down opening day is now just a few weeks away and their biggest worry is that new tool it hasn't arrived and without it there will be no grand opening the grand opening of the massive peak-to-peak gondola is now just two days away well this will be your 75 and it still doesn't have an operating permit the haul rope that was damaged a few weeks ago here here has been repaired that box just showed up and a new piece of equipment designed to prevent damage from happening again has just arrived in whistler there are four of them in all each must be assembled and placed on each of the four towers this is the magic Peter looters team from Doppel meyer designed the tool on the back of a napkin and manufactured them in Europe in record time the last weeks have been very very hard that was a hell of a job to finish the question now do they work we're gonna want to do the test [Music] what's their piece go in here now an official from the government is watching closely if the new tool doesn't protect the whole rope the gondola won't get its operating permit and Whistler will have to cancel its big Opening Day party we are so close to the finish line with the wind blowing and the snow falling Wayne will see watches nervously we're just rolling it downhill but the design works perfectly you can see the Rope lifter working now the new tool lifts and protects the cable and keeps it from being pinched on any part of the towers or the gondola cars may stop stop the whole oak does not lie in the hole in the horseshoe anymore that's exactly what we want to have they've done it to a tree reader the permit will be issued looks like everything's great good to go for Friday they couldn't have cut it any closer the lineup starts early on opening day everyone wants to be the first to cross the massive Valley they were just sort of prepping the cabin before everybody shows up this morning getting ready to get on the beat the beat Wayne will see now has the keys to his brand-new ski lifts Peter Luger has survived one of the most stressful builds of his career I'm super I feel really well know Doug Forsyth the guy who signs the checks for Whistler Blackcomb is beyond relieved there were so many times when we could have gotten discouraged and people didn't looks like there's a huge crowd outside [Music] the peak-to-peak gondola has changed the face of skiing at Whistler forever after millions of years separated by geology the resort's Twin Peaks are now joined by record-setting technology it's been a long two years and a stressful two weeks full of unpleasant surprises Whistler Blackcomb knows that the peak-to-peak crew pulled it out of the fire they simply wouldn't give up for Peter it has earned him one last surprise from now on the ski run that runs under the world's largest gondola will bear his name [Music] you [Music]

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Id: xEAJmxe27h0

Length: 45min 6sec (2706 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 16 2020