What may be the world's most expensive lift is being built on the Italian side of Mont Blanc.
Doppelmayr Italy has taken the biggest order in the company's history at 105 million Euros to build the replacement of the Mont Blanc cable cars on the Italian side of Western Europe's highest mountain.
Work on the new two-stage cable-car has already begun and is scheduled for completion by 2014at which point the old three-stage lift will be demolished. The lift links Courmayeur with the Pointe Helbronner at 3,500m over a 4.3km distance and rising in height by 2,140 vertical metres. The lift will move at a very fast nine metres per second with track ropes approximately 7 cm thick.
Glass and steel will set architectural highlights for the station buildings and the futuristic cabins. The stations are spacious and allows for views over the impressive mountain scenery by means of observation platforms.
The four cabins will each be round in shape and able to carry up to 80 passengers. Each will be completely glazed and rotate about their central axis during the ascent. Doppelmayr has already implemented this advanced technology in other famous locations including mountain Titlis above Engelberg in Switzerland but never before has a rotating cabin been used at such a height.
The new cabins will be a show piece of aesthetics and innovation. Thanks to the panorama glazing, the passengers can enjoy the 360 degree view without interruptions. The interior fittings will be of state-of-the-art design: heating elements integrated into the cabin floor and walls, sound system, and video screens.
On these screens pictures made by the camera that is attached to the outside of the cabin floor will be shown through a wireless connection. In addition, the screens show information such as weather data and event tips. Other features the high-tech cabin offers are air conditioning, adjustable LED lighting and intelligent sway dampers – to only name a few.
The new bottom station will be built in Pontal d'Entreves – opposite the ropeway "Val Veny". Despite being an aesthetic and spectacular eye catcher, the construction will blend in perfectly with the overall view. The station can be easily reached via the motorway and provides enough parking spaces – eliminating a problem of the existing station.
The mid station will be constructed near the old station and only be displaced by a few metres. Conference rooms and a restaurant complex are planned to find space inside. Nearby in Mont Frety, the legendary botanic garden can be seen – the most elevated in Europe.
At a height of 3,500m above sea level and near the Pointe Helbronner, the new top station will be built – equipped with a huge observation platform and a breathtaking panorama view on the Mont Blanc massif: Dente del Gigante, Grandes Jorasses, Vallée Blanche and the Mont Blanc (4,810 m above sea level). Due to the restricted space conditions, the station is being designed in terraces.
From the top station, a new elevator in the rocks leads downwards to the mountain shelter "Rifugio Torino". Up until now, the shelter could be reached by means of a small ropeway and a tunnel with stairs. The construction of the new elevator and the connecting tunnel is a work-intensive effort: the elevator well has a diameter of 7 meters and a difference of height of 70 meters. Ultimately, 130 meters of rock must be drilled through.
While building the new lift, special attention will be paid to efficiency and sustainability in order to keep the energy consumption as low as possible. Thus, materials with high thermal insulation capacities are used, as well as photovoltaic installations and a heating system with heat pumps for heat recovery. This shall approximately reach the standard of a zero-power building.
The bottom station in Pontal d'Entreves even fulfills the criteria for a so-called "active house": More energy is generated than consumed.