Skyline gondola and mountain bike park out of action for two weeks

The gondola ride at Skyline in Rotorua. Photo / File

Skyline Rotorua's gondola will be out of action for two weeks from today to allow for programmed maintenance.

The gondola will be closed from August 14 to 27, but visitors with tickets to the activities and dining will get free transport to the top.

Skyline Rotorua general manager Andrew Jensen said he regretted the inconvenience to visitors, but the long-scheduled maintenance was part of the life cycle of the gondola, installed in 2005.

"Like every business working with machinery we need to ensure that the gondola is in shipshape condition. Our maintenance engineers have been planning the maintenance for the last 12 months, organising parts from overseas and building structures onsite to assist with the work – including a massive purpose-built lifting frame," Jensen said.

"To back up our inhouse expertise, we've flown in Doppelmayr (the manufacturers of the Gondola) experts from Austria, Australia, Switzerland and around New Zealand," he said.

The Skyline Gravity Park mountainbiking park will also be out of action during this time. Photo / File

The gondola will have a mechanical overhaul, including a fresh motor and gearbox, bull wheel bearing replacement, and re-splicing of the haul rope – all designed to ensure the long-term operational safety of the equipment for visitors.

"We undertake regular daily, weekly and monthly maintenance all after hours, but from time to time it's necessary to undertake more extensive work which cannot be completed in an overnight timeframe.

"We've kept industry partners, operators and guests in the loop too, to make sure our visitors are well-informed."

Jensen said they already used vans to transport nervous or anxious visitors to the top of Mt Ngongotahā.

"So we've just brought on some extra vehicles to transport our remaining guests up the slope. All our normal activities will continue, albeit with some minor delays while waiting for vans. We simply cannot move the same volumes of guests with the vans so we ask that visitors be patient with us.

"Unfortunately we're not able to accommodate our Mountain Bike Park users – transporting the bikes is quite cumbersome as you can imagine, so we made the tough decision to close the MTB park for the period as well."

The maintenance meant the park would be at full strength in time for the September school holidays.