Splicing the Gondola Cable | Project Skyline

Get ready to be wowed as we take you behind the scenes of the incredible cable splicing process! This was an incredible milestone of Project Skyline, where the team connected the two ends of the Gondola rope, allowing the project to progress onto commissioning the lift and begin testing the new system.

Only a handful of people worldwide are licensed to do this specialised piece of work which requires a great deal of technical skill and expertise. Hannes Koller,  a Swiss expert, joined us in Queenstown to oversee this work and ensure everything ran smoothly. The splice preformed at Skyline Queenstown is a new advanced type of splice developed by the rope manufacturer Fatzer and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences, allowing the splice length to be much shorter, allowing the work to occur in the bottom station in a single day as opposed to needing over 60m on the hillside for the old splice type.  This splice is now well-proven with nearly all new installations worldwide using this newer system.

This is just one of many monumental moments that all contribute to the redevelopment of Skyline Queenstown and mark an iconic time in our history.