Perisher / Australia: New Quad Charlift

Doppelmayr Jindabyne Awarded Contract to Build Perisher’s New $4M Freedom Quad Chairlift

Perisher, Australia’s favourite alpine resort, is thrilled to announce that its new $4 million Freedom Quad Chairlift, to be installed in the picturesque resort area of Guthega over the coming months, will be constructed by Doppelmayr Jindabyne.

“We are delighted to appoint Doppelmayr to supply and install our new chairlift. Doppelmayr are regarded as a world leader in chairlift technology and manufacture; their expertise is without question and we are excited to have a locally based business head up this major project, as it will benefit the Snowy Mountains community,” said Peter Brulisauer CEO, Perisher.

The appointment of Doppelmayr will result in the employment of 20 people from around the Snowy Mountains region plus about the same number of Perisher staff throughout the construction process, expected to be a minimum of six months. Preparation work has already commenced with the removal of the Cow Pastures J-Bar to make way for the new Freedom chairlift.

“This project has been in the planning process for over four years in consultation with a range of government agencies to ensure all works adhere to stringent environmental and construction guidelines,” said Michael Fearnside GM Operations, Perisher. “In conjunction with Doppelmayr we’ll ensure that our guests enjoy the benefits of a single lift ride accessing Guthega’s much loved south facing runs with minimal environmental impacts,” stated Mr Fearnside.

The Freedom Quad Chairlift will increase Guthega's lifting capacity by an impressive 46% with 107 quad chairs enabling 2,400 skiers and snowboarders per hour to be transported up an inclined length of 800m to Guthega Peak at 1913m. The lift ride from bottom to top will take just over five minutes, giving guests magnificent views over Guthega and across to the Main Range. New entry gates will allow guests to track their vertical metres on the Perisher Dashboard.

“Doppelmayr has had a long association with Perisher that dates as far back as the 1960’s,” said Shaun Turner from Doppelmayr. “We’re grateful to be working with Perisher on the new Freedom Quad Chairlift venture and to continue our on-going relationship. Our work will commence mid November with our local staff preparing for the installation of nine lift towers that will hold the 1675m of steel wire rope required for the chairs to be fixed. The lift will also have a loading conveyor at the base station for guests to easily move into position for the chair to safely load them. This will significantly speed up the chair’s operation time, thus keeping waiting times to a minimum,” continued Mr Turner.