It's early summer in Tokyo. The maximum daytime temperature reaches 25 degrees Celsius every day. I recently visited Nagano Prefecture to experience the cool breeze with my family. Our destination was Mt. Nyukasa, which is 1,955 meters above sea level. The view from the summit was fantastic. We could clearly see snow-capped Mt. Kaikoma (2,967 meters above sea level) under the strong sunlight.
To visit Mt. Nyukasa, Gondola lift of the Fujimi Panorama Resort is convenient. It's a single rope automatic circulation type gondola lift. Connecting Sanroku (1,050 meters above sea level) and Sancho (1,780 meters above sea level) stations, its route length is 2,488 meters. The height difference between the two stations is 730 meters. Its maximum inclination is 37.97 degrees. There are 27 struts on the route. This aerial lift was opened in 1992 to transport skiers in winter as well as sightseers in summer. The cable line was constructed by Tokyo Sakudo technically assisted by Von Roll in Switzerland. The gondolas were built by CWA also in Switzerland.
Gondolas are operated with a speed of 5 meters per second. It takes 10 minutes to go one way. Each gondola can accommodate up to 8 passengers. Its transportation capacity is 2,400 passengers per hour. One of the features of this aerial lift is that passengers can take mountain bikes on the gondola. A maximum of 2 bikes and 2 passengers per gondola can be loaded. I saw many mountain bike lovers, who enjoy biking on the slope of the mountain.
