The Peak 2 Peak Gondola is a tricable gondola lift at Whistler Blackcomb Resort in Whistler, British Columbia, linking Whistler Mountain's Roundhouse Lodge with Blackcomb Mountain's Rendezvous Lodge. It is the first lift to join the two side-by-side mountains. It held the world record for the longest free span between ropeway towers at 3.03 kilometres until 2017 when the Eibsee Cable Car exceeded it by 189 metres. It is still the highest point above the ground in a gondola at 436 metres, although a temporary aerial tramway in Switzerland used between 1979 and 1986 had larger span. The gondola was built by the Doppelmayr Garaventa Group in 2007 and 2008 at a cost of CDN$51 million. The Gondola is the first Doppelmayr "3S" tri-cable lift in North America; there are four similar but smaller lifts in Europe which were built in 1991, 1994, 2002, 2004 and 2010 in Switzerland, Austria, France and Germany. Whistler Blackcomb has touted the gondola as an iconic attraction and uses it to transport skiers in the winter months as well as sightseers year round.
One of the 28 cabins on the Peak 2 Peak Gondola
The Peak 2 Peak Gondola's Blackcomb Terminal under construction in July 2008.
The Peak 2 Peak Gondola's Whistler Terminal under construction in July 2008.
Inside the Peak 2 Peak Gondola's Blackcomb Terminal
The tricable gondola lift, also known as the 3S gondola lift, is a cable car system that was developed by the Swiss company Von Roll transport systems in Thun to unite the benefits of a gondola lift with those of a reversible cable car system. '3S' is an abbreviation of the German word dreiseil, meaning 'tricable'.
A Leitner tricable gondola lift at the Stubaier Gletscher, Austria
A Doppelmayr tricable gondola lift in Sölden, Austria