spilling the gears [pique]

7/29/2019 Spilling the Gears [PIQUE]

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60 | April 5, 2012 | www.piquenewsmagazine.com

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In which our intrepid reporter tells all, going

behind-the-scenes of the Whistler Gondola to

explore its innards, revealing what is to come

for the workhorse, and what tales have been

spun both inside and out, from its lift lines to

its challenges.

I

ts mid-afternoon, and Im

rolling in to Olympic Station

on the Whistler Gondola.

A dreary sky looms above,

rain spattering the cabins

well worn, wrap-a round

windows. As the temperatures drop to a

hint below zero at the Olympic Stations

1,000 metres, the rain turns to slushy

snow. Its another late March winter storm,

and Im here to meet Wayne Wiltse, Lift

Maintenance Manager though I tend to

think of him as the chief engineer of this

hulking, mechanical beast of a people-

mover, occasionally throwing his arms up

in the air and shouting I just canna make

it go any faster, Capn!

Stepping out beyond the cabins

creaking doors, I do what Ive never done

in my 24 years of riding the gondie I

open the door of the sacred computer

room and poke my head in. Flashing

lights flicker across the glass-doored

computer cabinet. An alarm sounds.

The phone rings, and a blue-jacketed

liftie looks up. An inquiry or two to

the disheveled Ozzie team reveals that

nobody knows who Wayne is. After

assuring one and all of my Press status, I

am led to a staff room tucked in behind

the pop machines yet another secret

space I had no idea existed and wait.

Wearing a black jacket of my own,

everyone eating lunch assumes I am an

off-duty engineer until I pull out the Nikon

DSLR camera and strap on the flash.

Hey mate, drawls the liftie across the

table from me. You work here right?

Not quite, I say. But Im in the right

place, here on a mission. He nods. I

could tell, he says. Youve got the racoon

eyes. I look at the lifties tag; hes from

a place called Walla Walla. You cant be

no tourist, he continues, gesturing at my

goggle tan. Indeed.

Flashing the Control Room

Within a few minutes, Wayne walks in, a

bearded, bear-like man who is everything

you imagine an engineer to be kind of

big, rough and tumble, fast on dispensing

as much wit as knowledge. Hes covered in

as much oil as clothing. I like him upon

first glance; I can tell hes going to show

me the goods.

With the brisk attitude of a man with

things to do, places to be, Wayne suggests

we start in the computer control room

that looks out onto the incoming cabins.

As we swing open the door, I immediately

pose the question. Can I take pictures

with the flash? I say. This is apparently

a serious matter, ever since Ive been a

grommer hauling little skinny skis, Ive

always wondered what would happen if

I popped a flash in the computer room.

Would the system go into shutdown, acidic

smoke drifting from the ancient circuit

boards?

Sure! says Wayne, of course!

But what about the sign? I ask,

gesturing to the etched letters displayed

prominently on the glass door. NO

CAMERA FLASHES, it reads.

TheWhistlerGondolaInsideandOut.Alookunder

thehoodoftheWhistlerGondolaaftermorethan56,000hoursofoperation.StoryandPhotosbytobias

c.vanVeen

SpillingtheGears


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www.piquenewsmagazine.com | April 5, 2012 | 61

Feature STORY

Oh, chuckles Wayne, who then

proceeds to explain to me that back in

1988, when the gondola was constructed

by POMA America, the engineer had

to burn an EEPROM memory board

with ultraviolet light (EEPROM, by the

way, stands for Electrically Erasable

Programmable Read-Only Memory, an

ancient technique for memory storage

used back in the 1980s, when cell phones

were hauled around in briefcases and skis

were as thin as your wrist). Apparently his

interdiction against camera flashes during

the construction phase became enshrined

in lore, and now remains etched into

history. So yah heres another whopper

to go along with Where do they keep the

moguls during the summer?: Why cant

you take pictures of the Gondie computers

with a flash? THEY WILL EXPLODE.

Lucky for those of us who ride the

line day-in and day-out, everything in the

computer control room has since been

changed; the safety control system was

upgraded in 1998. That said, many of the

flashing controls still look like they were

designed for a cameo in a Bond film

starring Sean Connery. We turn to the

long, desktop control system that faces the

incoming cars. Big blue, red, and green

buttons that look like they belong on the set

of the original Star Trek series are labelled

with big and serious capital letters. A

few dashboard mounted computer screens

show wind and temperature readings.

Smaller screens with green printout

letters blink information with old-school

severity. TRANSFER ANNUNCIATOR

says one. SEC 2 ANNUNCIATOR, says

another. Apparently this is a computer that

annunciates.

This computer screen is annunciation.

It tells you what is going on, says Wayne.

Synchronization is good. Master control

from this station is on. If theres a problem

with one of these gates, the computer will

annunciate the problem on this screen.

Fascinating. I raise a Spock-brow.

We go over the pane ls. Diffe rent

screens give wind speed at towers 13 and

20 (sorry, no tower 27 readings; check

your speed at lift-off) . I gesture at the


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main computer readout. On this screen

is your stop history and speed history,says Wayne. He checks the time on the

screen. The time is wrong, and hasnt

been corrected for daylight savings time,

perhaps since 1988. A bit of math and

we sort it out, scro lling throu gh the

self-checks and safety-checks that began

at 5:15a.m., with the lift running since

7a.m. without a stop its been a good

lift day, with low wind.

As for the glass computer cabinets ,

they now hold modern processor

boards, but

a million

wir es sti ll

c o n n e c t

everything together, revealing the legacy

technology that runs the beast. Waynepops the doors off to get me a better

look. Above the glass computer doors

are the infamous flashing lights, showing

the position of cabins on the line. Cabins

can be marked with the big blue button

as they leave the terminal; once tagged

they will set off that familiar alarm

bell as they enter the station (I am sure

many think what I did when first hearing

that disarming klaxon: whoops, almost

lost another one!). Usually this is done

to send up supplies such as flats of beer

and send down the composting. Its not a

smart system; the cabins arent geotagged

in any modern sense. Every morning the

lifties build a tracking list, noting the

position of each cabin on the line with agood ol notepad. Thats pen and paper

no slick iPads here.

If we have a storm cycle rolling

through, like tonight, says Wayne. Well

take cabins off. Theyll all be parked inside

here and downstairs. Then when they

input the cabins in the morning, theyll

record their number and where they are. So

if they want to find one, they can, but its

not easy. And they never do.

So dont go worrying now about your

cabin number for lost gloves, for chances

are they wont really know where the

cabin is anyway.If youve ever glanced up at the gears

and cogs of Olympic Station, youll notice

that the gondola is not one but two. Up

among the iron girders is a clinking chain

that pulls the cabins from the lower to

the upper line, transferring passengers

methodically from one bullwheel to the

next. With the gondola fully operational,

running from the village to the

Roundhouse, Olympic Stations computer

room is master control. Wayne gestures

at the two drive panels that control the

speed of the lines. Im tempted to crank

them up, but resist the urge; the bottom

line is already running at the maximum

speed of 5.5 metres per second, which is

achievable only when the wind is below39 km/h. I am curious as to the beasts

hypothetical limit, but figure now is not

the time to begin touching things, because

hey, Wayne is leading me outside, past the

DO NOT WALK BETWEEN CABINS sign,

to the ladder.

For the first time in my life, I walk

between the cabins. The ladder that leads

up above the cogs and gears to the gang

planks and fast spinning things and yellow

pipes and emergency stop-ropes.

Feature STORY

1. Wayne Wiltse, at command central.

2. The promised land (for engineers).

3. Fingering the Transfer Annunciator.

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Up Into theInnards

Its all mechanical,

says Wayne. Like, thespacing of the cabins,

and driving the cabins

through the stations.

We are standing below

the ladder, with cabins

passing by on either

side. He nods, and

heads on up. I swing

my camera over the

shoulder and follow,

gaining the metal-

meshed walkway some 20 feet up. Be

careful when were above the bullwheel,

he says, and dont pull that red rope.

The bullwheel weighs three tons. The

red rope, running at waist-height alongside

the walkway, stops the whole show.The hum and noise of the machine

is loud, but smooth. Wayne details the

deceleration process for me as the cabins

come up from the Village; the other side,

of course, does it all in reverse, with an

accelerator. The power is taken from the

bullwheel, through the drive shafts, to

the decelerator, says Wayne, gesturing

at the numerous spinning wheels and

clamps, which are at waist-height beside

me. We duck under two fast, spinning

pipes painted yellow. I clamp my toque on

tight. As the cabin comes in, the grip will

open, dropping it onto the carrier, running

the same speed as the haul rope. These tires

slow it down, matching the speed to the

chain. The result? A smooth transition,slowing the cabin down from the fast

bullwheel line to the meandering pace of

the station chain. A number of sensors

and switches ensure that everything is in

place; a metal rail, for example, ensures

that the grip is aligned properly. Everything

is mechanical; if something doesnt click

right, the whole system shuts down.

Dropping back down the ladder,

Wayne points out the massive hydraulics

that maintain constant tension to the lines,

4. Whistl ers lar gest untapp ed rave space.

5. Things to keep in mind.

6. The heart of the beast runs on a 1/4 drive belt.

7. In case of zombies, remove from wall.

8. Looking out at the storm.

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www.piquenewsmagazine.com | April 5, 2012 | 67

which allows the friction of the drivewheel

to operate efficiently. These hydraulic rams

accommodate the changing weight and

sag of the gondola especially noticeable

after sales on chicken wings and pasta in

the village.

Behind the Blue Door &Down into the Guts

An inauspicious blue door opens to reveal

metal stairs leading down into a huge,

cavernous parking garage, cluttered with

open-air work cars, ambulance cabins, and

ordered stacks of parts of every size and

description. Two-thirds of the gondies cars

can be stored down here. At two storeys

tall, its the biggest untapped rave space in

Whistler. Massive cement columns provide

the structural foundations of this echoing,

ideal dream-goth-dungeon supporting

arches originally built to hold a 10-storey

hotel on top.Huge sheave trains lie in neat rows,

ready to go for the spring shutdown and

rebuild. Wayne leads me past the stacks

of sheaves no, not the hand-fashioned

prisoner weapons of choice, but what you

and I would call the wheels that support

the gondola cable to a maintenance

bay in the back. Here, gondies as well as

quad chairs can be rolled in, hanging at

accessible heights for the repair crews.

Grips and hangers are repaired regularly,

with 25 per cent taken out of service and

tested using spray-on magnetic particle

that reveals wear and tear when shocked

with electrical current under ultraviolet

lights creating a psychedelic nightclub

atmosphere for the jumpsuit mechanics.Meanwhile, Stuck in the Middle with

You by Stealers Wheel plays on the stereo.

With a subtly-graffitied, 1970s-era Workers

Compensation Board poster on the cement

wall, the atmosphere is a bitReservoir Dogs.

Two mechanics yank away at a gondie

in the dock, fiddling with the door. I

realize that this location would provide a

trulyexcellentlocation for a Heavy Hitting

Films Horror Film Fest entrant. Just sayin.

(If youre around in the fall, do check

out Whistlers infamous festival of low-

budget, amateur horror filmmaking, held

on Halloween.)

In 2007, all the grips and hangers

were replaced during a $4 million, major

overhaul, which included the gearbox atG4, station rails, bullwheel bearings, and

rails. Last year, the gearbox at G2 was

replaced as well. If you think your car is

a burden, imagine how many bits and

pieces of the gondie require upgrading on a

regular basis; each repair is double-checked

and signed off by not one but two techs.

Wayne points out the parts charts on

the walls schematics detail each and

every part, with the appropriate numbers

for reorders. Specialist tools are neatly

kept in labelled places for some reason

I am immediately drawn to the heaviest,

most brainless implement of them all,

the orange Dead Blow Hammer, which,

as Wayne puts it, gives you a little bit of

jam when you need to wack something.A plastic hammer with a little lead shot in

it now this is the protagonists tool for

said-possible-horror-film-shoot.

Then we waltz into the motor room.

A massive spinning drive shaft leads

up from floor to ceiling. Backup electrical

drives and emergency motors sit like

lurking rhinos, colour-coded yellow, green,

and blue. A spinning disc is guarded by

metal grates; it spins at 1,600 rpm when

the gondie is running at full speed.

As Wayne points out to me, everything

Ive seen so far is entirely mechanical;

you can almost run it all with bailing

wire and duct-tape. Unlike the Peak 2

Peak, computerization is minimal, and

there is very little black-boxing of its coreoperations. Like an old car, you can get

under the hood and wack at it.

Midlife Cabin Crisis

Several upgrades are rolling out across

Whistler Blackcomb in the coming few

years including improvements to the

Whistler Gondola, possibly as early as

summer 2014, but more likely beginning

in 2015.

Its our primary

workhorse for Whistler

Blackcomb, and carries

more passengers than

any other lift in our

company, says DougForseth, Whistler

Blackcombs Senior

VP of Operations,

who has also ridden

the gondola several

thousand times in

uniform, jumpstarting

i n n u m e r a b l e

conversations during

the 15-minute ride.

It has done that in

its current state since

1988.

Though the gondie

was upgraded in

2007 with heavy-duty

components so that itscapacity is now greater

so it can haul more

ass, basically what

has not been done

yet is a new paint

job, says Doug. The

cabins are really the

next big thing.

So heres what

to expect. First, the

number of cabins will

probably increase from

156 to about 190. And

there will be new, walk-

in cabins, still with

skis on the inside

keeping it easy for liftiesdealing with twintips

and rockered planks

but with comfortable,

assigned seating for eight. Yes no longer

will the strange, oblong benches, too high

for some, too low for others, upend tourists

and locals alike. It will be much more like

the Excalibur gondola, notes Doug, and will

enhance carrying numbers from 2,150 per

hour to about 2,640. This means shorter lift

lines, and better service, says Doug.

The cost of the upgrad e racks in at

around $45,000 per cabin, making it a

$7 million upgrade that will benefit both

winter and summer riders. Solutions for

bike carriers are still being brainstormed,

with bike carri ers a possib ility. Upgrading

the gondie will likely take place around

the same time as the Harmony upgrade

to a six-pack lift, and the transfer of the

Feature STORY

GONZO NOTES TO THEWHISTLER GONDOLA::

A generation ago, back in 1988 when hair wasbig and pants were bright and tight, POMA

America came to Whistler and said, lets get

shakin on up to the hiiiigh alpine. And lo,stretching all the way past the old triples,all the way up to the Roundhouse and Pikas, a

gondola was built, a modern chariot for thoseseekers of the powder stashes. Long before

Blue chair was removed and Harmony installed,back when two-seater, colour-coded woodenchairs were London Mountains mainstay formsof transport, there was the Whistler Gondola.

As of today, this year of Mayan propheciesthat is 2012, the Whistler Gondola has beenin operation for 56, 414 hoursand counting.Or more precisely, the Upper Whistler Gondola

has clocked a few hundred hours more thanthe Lower (probably to ferry staff membersseeking to break the records of the GondolaChallenge). Indeed, the Upper and Lower

gondola are technically two distinct lifts.The lower gondie is number 4.22, with the

upper claiming 4.23 (which leads me to wonder:who got Poma lift 4.20?).

The gondie stretches some 4,998 metres,suspended by some 63 towers, operating at a

maximum speed of 5.5 metres per second, andhauling our collective corps up (and thensome) 848 vertical metres. Whereas the Peak2 Peak is a stroke of minimalism, hangingsuspended cars across the Fitz Valley like,

well, some kind of bird on a wire, theWhistler Gondola is a workhorse, a beast ofburden, a two-birds-in-the-bush metaphor. Infact, it is a metaphori, that which transports

us around, herding our heavy, valley bodies upinto the lightness of being metapherein.


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existing, quad Harmony chair over to

Crystal on Blackcomb, replacing the old

triple. The top five list of the master plantimeline also calls for the renovation

of Rendezvous, which has found itself

increasingly popular as a destination

eatery for Peak 2 Peak sightseers. The

$5 million expansion would increase

seating and enhance the back-of-the-

house, though no word on the all-night

disco yet.

If no one wants the old gondie cars,

they might be auctioned off though only

time will tell whether local ski culture will

find the gondie as attractive as the old

Creekside tinbox.

Flowing with theForgeries and Fakes

It depends on how it wakes up in the

morning, yknow, says Dan, describing

his relationship with the Whistler

Gondola. If its freezing up there, and

doesnt have a good night, it plays up

a bit. But usually we get along quite

well . Th ere s a few days , wh en i ts sup er

cold, when it doesnt want to wake up

in the morning, and we have to call in

the maintenance guys to help us out.

But usually its happy, and we have a

work ing rela tion shi p 90 per cent of

the time.Dan Pooley has been the lead lift hand

for the Whistler Gondies Village base for

the past two years. Hes one of those

forgivably handsome Brits, and like me,

chuckles at nearly all aspects of

the universe that flows around

him. He used to work in Leeds

Castle, organizing highbrow

banquets and dungeon

tours; the mountain figured

this was good experience for

packing the sardine tins on a

daily basis.

As Im talki ng to Dan about

dress-up parties and the high

morale of Guest Relations

its evident he digs his job another liftie hands him

a mangled 7-Eleven ticket.

They see this kind of thing

every day, and have in place

a fast track priority to bounce

people up who have issues

with thei r tix. Bet ween 9

and 10:30a.m. is our busiest

point weve got ski school,

two lines of kids, normal

ski school, three lines (from

the maze), says Dan, who is

smoothly scanning passes as we

speak. We estimate he easily

scans hundreds of thousands

of people a year. Its pretty

hectic, he adds, his eyes out

for scams, including photocopy

forgeries and dudes wearing

fake moustaches to cop their

buddys pass.

Yes hes seen them all. The

guys who drop their skis and gloves,

creating a diversion while someone

else squishes past or the dazed

loner who stands off to the side,

pretending to be lost or looking for

something and then tries to pull

a fast one. Then theres the crowds

that just mob you.

Most of them, says Dan, just

arent that good at it; last year he had a

group flock him when no one else was

in the maze. It was beyond obvious. Imnot that stupid, says Dan. At least try

something better than that. He has had

women hand him 555 numbers, with

offers of aprs hook-ups (sorry girls, not

worth losing a job over). Then there are the

regulars, a few infamous characters, true ski

bum squatters, dreaded and recognizable,

hawking clipped tickets, which try near

daily to slip in. It doesnt work, and

everyone is politely sent on their way. Last,

but never least, theres the inebriated.

Weve had a few guys who have

come along completely drunk, pants

falling down to his knees, could barely

even walk, stumbling around, says Dan.

We do get a few, and we have to send

them away for safety. Sometimes theres

lift line conflicts between anxious and

agitated tourists, swearing at each other,

parkrats taking on the gapers, etc. Dans

job is to keep the herd grinding forward

in peace.

But there are ways to make your

powder morning a faster flow, especially

if rolling single and suave. Coffees and

muffins to hold a place in line are never

a bad idea, says Dan, with a chuckle. Wejust want to keep the vibe good, says

Dan. Well shoot you up the line to ride

with your friends if youre nice and help

us out.

THE GONDOLA CHALLENGE::

The Gondola Challenge has been complicated over the past few yearswith

the addition of the Peak 2 Peak, it now requires an extra ride(r) or twoto complete the whole circuit. Theres also the added confusion of how tocomplete the route. Up Creekside, down the Whistler Gondola, up Blackcomb,then P2P over? Or begin with the 15-odd minute epic of the Whistler Gondie?Tough calls for the ol up-and-down.

Besides the P2P which is the hardest to pull off, precisely becausegetting a cabin to yourself requires some, errr, finessing the WhistlerGondola by far has the most space for testing the cabins cable clampers.

For two generations now, newbies have practiced getting on and off thevarious gondolas with the cabin classic.

Feature STORY

Clowns to the left, jokers to the right---Dan Pooley

welcom es the fakers.

spilling the gears [pique]

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