Sunkid Moving Carpet in Saalfelden (Austria)

“We used to trudge up every ski jump on foot with our skis,” smiles Austrian former ski jumping star Andreas Goldberger behind his protégés on the new conveyor belt of the Felix Gottwald jumping facility in Saalfelden. At the Salzburg State Cup, the promising young talents will be transported to the 15-meter and 30-meter facilities on a new Sunkid magic carpet. “A cable car is available for the 60-metre and 85-metre jumps on the completely renovated facility,” explains Alfred Pfeffer, an employee of the municipality of Saalfelden, which operates the ski jumping facility.

“The Moving Carpet here in Saalfelden is one of many that we have already implemented in ski jumping facilities. The special thing here is that it is one of the steepest with a maximum incline of 39 percent,” explains Johannes Wiedorfer, Head of Marketing at Sunkid. The steep climbing aid does indeed require a certain amount of skill and a sense of balance. “But these are usually experienced and trained athletes and it's no problem for them,” Johannes Wiedorfer and Alfred Pfeffer agree.

The Sunkid Wond Moving Carpet is 55 meters long. The 60 cm wide conveyor belt is designed in the “Rufftop” version, which guarantees a good grip on the steep ascent. The Moving Carpet is powered by a 7.5 kW motor with a speed of 0.7 m/s. A heating system in the drive area protects the light barrier, which guarantees the safety stop of the system, from icing up. [...]

The conveyor is a new “Type N” system that meets the highest standards of passenger transportation with the new i-CONTROL® electrical control system. The control technology is innovative and modern. i-CONTROL® enables the operator to carry out regular self-maintenance (daily, monthly) with precise logging and checklists via the HMI display. “The annual inspection and maintenance,” says Pfeffer, ”is carried out for us by the Sunkid customer service employee.”

More and more operators of ski jumping facilities are relying on the Moving Carpet in means of transportation. Sunkid has already equipped a number of ski jumping facilities in Austria, such as Kitzbühel, Tschagguns and Schwarzach. There is also an impressive facility in Otepää in Estonia. Another 124 meter long facility is currently being put into operation in Schönau am Königssee (Bavaria).

Sunkid is once again proving that it not only provides products for the tourist public in popular sports, but that it is also represented in top-class sport with transportation solutions. More recent innovations also include water transport systems in the field of competitive summer sports, as demonstrated by the system for an Olympic training center (Paris 2024).

Source: Mountain Manager