page_title: Hells Gate (British Columbia)
section_title: Hells Gate Airtram
hierarchical_section_title: Hells Gate (British Columbia) / Hells Gate Airtram
caption_attribution_description: English: Tram view on Hell's Gate, near Hope, British Columbia, Canada
context_page_description: Hells Gate is an abrupt narrowing of British Columbia's Fraser River, located immediately downstream of Boston Bar in the southern Fraser Canyon. The towering rock walls of the Fraser River plunge toward each other forcing the waters through a passage only 35 metres wide. It is also the name of the rural locality at the same location.
  For centuries, the narrow passage has been a popular fishing ground for Aboriginal communities in the area. European settlers also began to congregate there in the summer months to fish. Eventually, the Fraser Canyon became a route used by gold rush miners wishing to access the upper Fraser gold-bearing bars and the upper country beyond up the Fraser and the Thompson. In the 1880s the Canadian Pacific Railway built a transcontinental railroad that passed along the bank at Hells Gate, and in 1911 the Canadian Northern Railway began constructing a second track. In 1914 a large rockslide triggered by CNoR construction fell into the river at Hells Gate, obstructing the passage of Pacific salmon needing to swim upstream to spawn.
context_section_description: Hells Gate Airtram starts at the parking lot of the Trans-Canada Highway and descends to its lower terminal on the opposite side of Fraser River next to the pedestrian suspension bridge, where there is an observation deck, a restaurant, a gift shop and other tourist attractions. It was built in 1970 by the Swiss manufacturer Habegger Engineering Works and opened on 21 July 1971. Its two cabins can carry 25 people each, plus the cabin attendant. Each cabin travels up and down along its own track rope at a maximum speed of 5 m/s (18 km/h, 984 ft/min) over an inclined length of 341 m (1118 ft). The horizontal distance between the terminals is 303 m (994 ft) and their difference in altitude is 157 m (515 ft). The mean inclination between the terminals is 51%. The track ropes have a diameter of 40mm, the haul rope connecting the two cabins via the drive bull wheel in the  upper terminal has a diameter of 19mm and its counter rope 15mm. The track ropes are anchored in the upper terminal and are tensioned by two concrete blocks of 42 tons each suspended inside the lower terminal where the blocks have a leeway of 7.9m to move up and down. The haul rope and its counter rope are tensioned by a counterweight of 3.5 tons, also in the lower terminal. The max output of the motor is 140 HP (104 kW). The total carrying capacity of the aerial tramway is 530 passengers per hour (one way).
caption: Tram view on Hell's Gate
exif: {}