Ski Resorts News
10/05/2022
The Pila ski area, in the Aosta Valley, will have a new ski lift: the cable car designed by the DeCarloGualla architecture studio, founded by Jacopo De Carlo and Andrea Gualla. The competition won by the project aimed to modernize the two current facilities, dating back to the Eighties: the Pila-Gorraz and Couis-Drink chairlifts, in order to connect the center of Pila, at 1800 meters above sea level, with the Platta del Grevon, at 2723.
The new cable car will significantly improve the sporting experience for skiers and bikers of all levels and ages, but at the same time, it will become a real international tourist attraction.
A competition decreed the winning project
The winning project, through a tender coordinated by the Order of Architects of Bologna where 33 architectural and engineering firms from all over Europe participated, was carried out by the De Carlo – Gualla architectural firm.
The goal of the tender was the design of the valley and mountain stations of the gondola lift with an adjoining panoramic restaurant. In particular, the departure station of the Pila-Couis will merge with the arrival station of the Aosta-Pila, completely redeveloping one of the resort’s nerve centres.
One of the main objectives is also to make the area increasingly competitive, both in summer and in winter, giving the possibility to diversify tourist activities, from skiing, to trekking, to relax and cycling.
The new Pila-Couis cabin car and mountain station
The departure of the new cable car will develop near the arrival station of the existing Aosta-Pila connection system. By creating a new in hub in town, it was designed to be able to organize large flows of people, with two long roofs that intertwine in order to connect the existing structure with the new one and welcome visitors, bringing them immediately to the cash desks. The mountain station – which will be shaped halfway between an edelweiss and a wind rose – will be located on the ridge between the Pila and Cogne basins, and will host a panoramic restaurant overlooking the most spectacular peaks of the region: the Gran Paradiso, the Mont Blanc chain, the Rutor Glacier and the Grand Combin.
The arrival station, at the top of Cima Couis, is characterised by a particular star design with the points oriented towards the different 4,000 of the Aosta Valley and will also contain a panoramic bar-restaurant. With a flow rate of 2,400 people per hour at a speed of six metres per second, you can cover the total length of 3.8 kilometres and a vertical drop of 923 metres in merely 13 minutes. Currently, three lifts are required to reach Cima Couis da Pila, taking a total time of about 60 minutes. Shortly, this work will make it possible to reach one of the most iconic panoramic points of the Valley starting directly from the centre of Aosta.
Hourly capacity: 2400 people/h
Total length: 3800 m
Travel time: about 13 min
Total number of vehicles: 112
Installed power: 1746 Kw
Operating speed: 6.00 m / s
Total height difference: 923 m
Single vehicle capacity: 10 seats
Total number of line supports: 30
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