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The biggest cable car in Jasná has undergone regular spring maintenance.
Funitel is the only personal cable car of its kind in Slovakia. It transports tourists from Priehyba to Mt Chopok in big 24-person cabins that hang on two ropes, which increases the resistance to strong wind.
When doing spring maintenance, we have to shorten the transport rope. It stretches when it is used and has to be shortened by 12 metres. A certified expert from Switzerland pulls fibres of the rope with help of our guys, shortens and plaits them again. It’s precise a technical operation.
Braňo Uličný, cable car chief engineer in Jasná
The cable car transport rope is made of quality steel, weighs 105 tonnes and is almost 8.5 km long. Shortening helps keep the tension safe. It’s a technical operation that takes several days. On the first day, mechanics have to release the rope of the pulleys on two pylons, the rope is untwisted and shortened on the second day, twisted on the third day and attached to the pylons again on the fourth day. It’s one of the steps of the cable car maintenance manuals.
Maintenance is performed regularly in spring and autumn to have cable cars ready and safe for the summer and winter season. Nowadays, the cable cars on the northern and southern side of Mt Chopok are open only at weekends.
