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Show High voltage shorts out gondola High voltage power arced through the mid-mountain angle station to the main gondola cable Thursday, July 21, shorting out the Park City Ski Area's first summer of gondola operation. In a press release dated July 26, the Park City Ski Corporation announced the end of gondola service until ski season. Resort spokesmen said the suspension of summer use was due to damage to the haul rope (main cable) of a "magnitude that cannot be assessed; however first estimates are between $50,000 to $75,000." The press release cites "a short in a Utah Power and Light Company high voltage underground cable" as the cause for the damage to the gondola haul rope. However, UP&L's Park City office manager, Cliff Blonquist, said the power failure at the angle station is not necessarily the fault of UP&L. He said the "strong language" of the press release is premature. A splice in a UP&L underground high voltage power cable did fail Thursday at approximately 11 a.m., according to Blonquist. But he maintains that the angle station is independent of the UP&L line. "I just don't see the tie." Gondola operator Doug Clyde said that although it might be impossible to prove, the two incidents were connected. con-nected. Gondola operators witnessed the arcing from the UP&L line to the angle station system, he said. The ski corporation's insurance company will handle the mattei , Clyde said. Blonquist said UP&L has not yet had a chance to look into the incident but he said he plans to meet with Clyde. The ski corporation will completely complete-ly replace the haul rope, according to their news bulletin. The process cannot be completed before October 1, 1983 The gondola will be operating in the summer of '84, spokesmen said. A number of other local electrical problems were reported last week. They were characterized by flickering lights, fluttering radio signals and computer terminals going "down." Construction digs are to blame for the recent flickerings, Blonquist said. "It really raises havoc." He noted that on Thursday the 21st, four separate instances of power interruptions caused by excavating occurred. Blonquist said the mishaps keep the UP&L crews from their regular work because they are busy responding to the disruptions. "We're not short of power," he said about the interruptions, interrup-tions, "but we're having a lot of trouble with construction." Almost without exception the underground under-ground power lines are marked and construction firms just aren't being careful enough, Blonquist said. In approximately two weeks, Park City will be cut to one major source of power. The construction of the belt route necessitates removing the power line that runs parallel to it, according to Blonquist. He said the power switch won't take place until the installation of a 66-foot tower on the east side of UP&L's substation is complete. The belt route power line should be operational again in 30 days time, depending on the road construction development. |