Post by nickchu

What happens during high winds mid-ride? I hope they have a good rescue plan... Image from www.itravelqq.com.

Over the years at the Gondola Project, we’ve learned about and seen many interesting “water-based” CPT systems (i.e. Koblenz Rheinseilbahn, Emirates Air Line, and Teleferico do Parque das Nacoes). Today, we can officially add another cable car line to that list. The name you say? It’s known as the Nandaihe Ropeway and it’s located in China’s Hebei Province (map of system here).

Judging from the picture above, those who are brave enough to ride this are transported in a chairlift that’s unenclosed over the busy waters of the Bohai Sea. It takes approximately 15 minutes (link is in Chinese) for passengers to reach an island theme park from the Nandaihe International Entertainment Centre located on the mainland.

At 1.039km in length, this ride is by no means a dinky chairlift. Comparatively speaking, it is longer than the Koblenz Rheinseilbahn (0.89km) but just slightly shorter than the Emirates Air Line (1.1km). With that said, it is reportedly the only “water aerial lift” in China and to my knowledge, this system is probably one of the world’s longest and few chairlift systems that actually transports passengers over a body of water.

If somehow this makes the ride any safer, according to this website (in Chinese), the system shuts down when the wind reaches level “6” or 39-49 km/h.

If the chairlift wasn't exhilarating enough, once you reach the island, you can bungee jump off that monstrous looking tower on the right. Image by Panoramio user zhang.solomon.

More pictures of this ride can be found in the following links: Picture 1; Picture 2; Picture 3.