A remarkable gondola

The Herald reports:

Plans for a $50 million gondola from Queenstown’s Remarkables Park to the iconic Remarkables mountain range have been revealed today.

A 9.8km gondola, the longest in Australasia, is proposed by Remarkables Park Town Centre developer Porter Group Ltd.

It will dock with NZSki’s new ski field base building, which opened this year and was designed with the gondola in mind.

Comprising 140 eight-seater cabins, the Leitner Poma-designed gondola will lift off next to Porter Group’s proposed Frankton conference centre.

It will then run across and alongside the Kawarau River, then head up the Rastus Burn Valley to The Remarkables ski field’s new base building – a 27-minute journey.

Designed as a sightseeing attraction in its own right, it also offers an alternative route to the 13km Remarkables ski field access road, not only for skiers and snowboarders but also sightseers, climbers and mountain bikers throughout the rest of the year.

What a great idea – a huge tourist attraction, and also great for skiers.