Gulucun Cable Car is a
aerial tramway
An aerial tramway, aerial tram, sky tram, cable car or aerial cablecar, aerial cableway, ropeway, téléphérique (French), or Seilbahn (German) is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary cables for support, with a third movin ...
connecting the two mountain villages of Gulu and Maping deep within the Dadu River Canyon in
Hanyuan,
Sichuan
Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
, China. The 720 meter span crosses 400 meters above Laochang Creek, one of 4 large tributaries on the north side of the
Dadu River
The Dadu River (, ), known in Tibetan as the Gyelmo Ngul Chu (), is a major river located primarily in Sichuan province, southwestern China. The Dadu flows from the eastern Tibetan Plateau into the Sichuan Basin where it joins with the Min Rive ...
canyon.
A local 2-lane road on the Gulu side allows access to the west station while the east station can only be reached via a steep trail that rises more than 500 meters from the Dadu River level to the village of Maping. Prior to the completion of the cable car in 2017, villagers used a simple ropeway with a small steel cage to transfer animals and other cargo goods across the Laochang gorge. For 2019 there are plans to open the Gulucun Cable Car to tourists.
The east Maping station is 40 meters higher in elevation then the west station. The tramway car reaches a height of 400 meters above the creek making it the second highest passenger tramway in the world along with the Kitzbühel
3S Cable Car in
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
and just behind the 436 meter high
Peak 2 Peak Gondola
The Peak 2 Peak Gondola is a tricable gondola lift at Whistler Blackcomb Resort in Whistler, British Columbia, linking Whistler Mountain's Roundhouse Lodge with Blackcomb Mountain's Rendezvous Lodge. It is the first lift to join the two side-by-s ...
in
Whistler, British Columbia
Whistler (, ; , ) is a resort municipality in Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains, approximately north of Vancouver and south of Pemberton, Britis ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. The nearby Dadu River elevation is 480 meters below the cable car elevation.
The mouth of the Laochang creek is crossed by the famous Yixiantian stone railway bridge.
Gallery
File:Gulucun Tramway view.jpg, Gulucun Cable Cars within the Dadu River Canyon.
File:GulucunHanyuanSichuan.jpg, Cable car inside the west station.
File:GulucunTramwayWestStation.jpg, West Gulucun station.
File:GulucunTramwayMotorRoom.jpg, Gulucun Tramway motor room.
File:YixiantianBridgeLaochangCreek.jpg, Chengdu–Kunming railway Yixiantain Bridge across the mouth of Laochang Creek.
References
Sohu Webpage on Gulucun TramwaySohu Webpage on Gulucun TramwayChina News Gulucun Tramway story
{{coord missing, China
Aerial tramways in China