Travel

No road 20 tons of bulldozers how to transport up the mountain? This scenic spot in Zhangjiajie is all about the ropeway

Zhangjiajie Seven Star Mountain, more than 10 meters higher than Tianmen Mountain, the scenery and Zhangjiajie major well-known attractions compared to no less. However, such an excellent scenic spot, many "Zhangjiajie heavy enthusiasts" but do not know. It is obviously a "tourist treasure", why not many people have climbed the Seven Star Mountains over the years, the view of the mountains?

This is because of the high altitude of Mount Qixing, the terrain is dangerous, there is no condition to build roads, only hiking trails to hike up the mountain. Locals and deep hiking enthusiasts who are lucky enough to experience the beauty of Mount Qixing up close regularly go to the mountain to collect medicine.

In January 2022, Zhangjiajie Seven Star Mountain Tourism Resort (hereinafter referred to as "Seven Star Mountain") was officially opened to the public. four years, the freight ropeway operated day and night, transporting all the materials needed for the construction to The "Yugong Yishan" way to transport up the mountain. Seven Star Mountain, the cloud wonderland, has opened its arms to the majority of tourists since then.

No road 20 tons of bulldozers how to transport up the mountain? This scenic spot in Zhangjiajie is all about the ropeway

△Picture/Provided by the interviewed unit

The 20-ton bulldozer was split into 4 parts and transported up the mountain by ropeway

The construction of the Seven Star Hill project officially started in 2018. Prior to the start of construction, the freight ropeway had been transporting supplies to the mountain for six months.

Qi Xie, the chief engineer of the Seven Star Hill project, is going to be in charge of the project construction in 2018 when the project starts. "Before I came, the construction of the freight ropeway had been completed, and sand, cement and other foundation materials were slowly transported to the mountain like 'ants moving'."

No road 20 tons of bulldozers how to transport up the mountain? This scenic spot in Zhangjiajie is all about the ropeway

△Qixing Mountain Cargo Ropeway Photo/Liu Tongjing Hu Jiahui Kong Dongliang

Under normal circumstances, the load capacity of the cargo box of the freight ropeway is 3.5 tons. It is easy to transport sand, cement, excavators, bulldozers and other "big" weight far more than the load, how to go up the mountain?

"The heaviest apparatus we've ever shipped was a 20-ton excavator. We dismantled it into four parts, one of which was more than 5 tons, still more than the load-bearing capacity, but it could no longer be dismantled." So, in addition to the freight tramway, the scenic area also mobilized auxiliary measures - winch (with a reel winding wire rope or chain lifting or pulling heavy objects of light lifting equipment, also known as winches). Of course, the winch is also shipped up the mountain beforehand. The mainframe of the freight tramway in the mountain, the winch in the mountain "drag", the super heavy "big" joint transport up the mountain. Excavator parts up the mountain, and then let the manufacturer's technical staff up the mountain for assembly.

Through this way of disassembling and then assembling, various large equipment went up the mountain smoothly.

With the high load, the ropeway has to be serviced regularly every day and the ropes are replaced regularly. Xie Qi to tell reporters, the scenic area built a total of four freight ropeways, of which two have already completed their mission, and now there are two are still working.

The busiest ropeway is called the "Cargo Station" and is the one that visitors can see when they take the ropeway up the mountain. From 2019, the work of the "freight station" gradually increases in intensity, it has to work 23 hours a day, and only at 6:00 a.m. when the staff handover time, there is a "respite" time. In the hour of rest, the staff will seize the time to check the ropes and other components of the cableway. "In order to ensure safety, every two months will replace the wire rope, each time you buy a wire rope will buy an extra as a backup." Xie Qi to say.

"This is the longest project I've ever followed."

After sand and gravel materials, large construction vehicles and other necessary construction materials and equipment were in place, construction of the gravel yard, mixing plant and the station house for storing materials began, followed by water sources, workers' dormitories and power supply and other life support facilities. The construction team was living in a simple tent at first, and only later built a three-story building, as a temporary headquarters on the mountain, the construction team had a building to live in.

"Fix the water and electricity, then start building the roads." Xie Qi is going to say. According to the plan, a total of more than 30 kilometers of roads are to be built in the Seven Star Mountain Scenic Area, and 8 kilometers have been completed so far. "The 8 kilometers of road now is the main road within the eastern district, and also includes some visitor trails."

No road 20 tons of bulldozers how to transport up the mountain? This scenic spot in Zhangjiajie is all about the ropeway

△The road up to Qixing Mountain Photo/Liu Tongjing Hu Jiahui Kong Dongliang

With the help of these main roads, the project team has been able to spread out the construction of various attractions in the scenic area with a series of points. Hot-air balloon tent camp, cabin B&B, car camp and restaurant are all being built with the help of the open road. At present, 25 chalets have been built, and the construction of 100 chalets is planned to be completed before May 1 next year.

"I've been here for almost four years, and this is the longest project I've ever been with. I estimate it will be at least three more years." Xie Qi had to say. In the beginning, he brought only a dozen workers to the mountain, responsible for assembling equipment, building temporary housing and other tasks. Only since 2019 have there been more workers, and now more than 200 workers are based on the mountain.

Xie Qihe is a native of Shaoyang, Hunan Province, and has previously worked on golf course construction for ten years, and has extensive experience in landscape construction. "I hadn't been exposed to ropeways before, and I learned a lot here." This is the first time in his career that he has encountered a project that relies entirely on freight ropeway construction. "In other projects, the car can reach a 'pivot point' and then use that 'pivot point' as a base for construction. The Seven Star Mountain project is starting completely from scratch."

Xie Qi is going to remember the first time he climbed Mount Qixing in September 2018. At that time, there was no tourist ropeway, and a group of people took the walkway up the mountain, and it took more than two hours to get to the project, which was not the top of the mountain. "Before going around the country to do projects, I've seen all kinds of mountains, and Zhangjiajie's mountain has a lot of character."

No road 20 tons of bulldozers how to transport up the mountain? This scenic spot in Zhangjiajie is all about the ropeway

△Picture/Provided by the interviewed unit

Stationed in the seven star mountain 4 years, Xie Qi to witness the scenic area tourists from scratch, "Zhangjiajie snow time is long, fog is very beautiful, last winter, many people enjoy the snow play snow." The scenic area has not been fully built to attract so many tourists, which strengthened his confidence: "This will definitely be a hot vacation project."

Xiaoxiang Morning News reporter Li Shu intern Qin Eddie

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