Perisher Valley (NSW), Australia – Perisher Ski Resort announced today that it plans to lodge a Development Application with the New South Wales Department of Planning and Infrastructure to construct a 22-foot Superpipe to international specifications for both top athletes and the general skiing and snowboarding public.
“It’s a fantastic project for Perisher and one that will offer a truly world class facility for our athletes to train and develop their skills to showcase on the international stage,” said CEO of Perisher, Peter Brulisauer. “It’s been a long time in the planning and is nice to see this dream start to become a reality.”
Perisher riders Torah Bright and Nate Johnston have already claimed Superpipe medals at X Games and Word Championship events over the past four years, with Bright also the current Olympic Gold Medalist. This facility will provide riders of this caliber the opportunity to train more at their home resort and encourage the next wave of Australian athletes to get involved in halfpipe riding.
Perisher has purchased a Zaugg superpipe cutter and it’s already been shipped to the resort. The development application for the superpipe will be submitted this week for consideration by the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.
The superpipe is planned to be located in Centre Valley with access via Lawson and Leichhardt T-bars. The project will include new automated snowmaking and summer earthworks so that the Superpipe can be built with less snow than would otherwise be required allowing for the Superpipe to operate for as long as possible each winter season.
“It’s exciting times for Perisher announcing that we are planning to build a Superpipe whilst we are also busy constructing the new $4 million (AUD) Freedom Chairlift in Guthega for the 2014 winter season,” added Perisher Sales & Marketing manager, Richard Phillips. “Perisher is certainly committed to working hard to improve the experience for our guests during their snow holidays and we are investing to help achieve these goals.”
The new Freedom Quad Chairlift, constructed by the Austrian firm Doppelmayr with facilities in Jindabyne, will increase Guthega’s uphill capcity by 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. New entry gates will allow guests to track their vertical on the Perisher Dashboard.
Work has already begun to remove the Cow Pastures J-bar in preparation for construction on the new chairlift to begin in mid-November. The lift will have a loading conveyor installed at the base station for guests to easily move into position for the chair to safely load them, speeding up the lift’s rope speed.