Western Canada Mountain Coasters

2016 – ongoing | Various locations

Mountain biking isn’t the only activity resorts are using to expand their summer operations; mountain coasters are increasing in popularity across Western Canada.

Mountain coasters are a cost-effective summer attraction that help resorts secure their reputation as summer destinations. For over 10 years, McElhanney has provided engineering services for mountain coaster designs and installations across Western Canada and have worked with multiple resorts to navigate the local authority jurisdiction requirements.

Here’s a summary of our mountain coaster projects:

Revelstoke Mountain Coaster

In 2016, Revelstoke Mountain Resort added a Brandauer mountain coaster to its summer attractions. Revelstoke retained McElhanney to complete the required engineering review for the design registration with the BC Safety Authority. McElhanney reviewed the overall ride design, structural and mechanical component design, and operation and maintenance documents. An important aspect of this assignment was the review against applicable safety codes. McElhanney also provided an acceptance testing procedure and completed the acceptance test prior to the ride’s grand opening.

Explore Revelstoke’s pipe mountain coaster here, on their website.

Cypress Pipe Coaster

In 2020, Cypress Mountain engaged McElhanney because our team was familiar with the regulatory process surrounding their project. Cypress Mountain knew that the addition of the new mountain coaster went beyond the installation of the ride itself; the new ride needed to take advantage of existing mountain operations. To that end, we created a new carrier with a local fabricator to return the coaster toboggans to the top of the mountain using one of Cypress’ chairlifts.

McElhanney’s engagement with Cypress was delivered in two phases. The first phase focused on an engineering review of the proposed design, drawings, and support documentation. The second phase of construction and acceptance testing consisted of installation review, acceptance testing, and accelerometer testing.

Explore Cypress Mountain’s coaster here, on their website.

Canyon Mountain Coaster

In 2022, Canyon Ski Resort set out to install the first mountain coaster in Alberta. It would also be the first mountain coaster in Canada installed to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) F24 standards. Additionally, Canyon wanted to use their existing Red T-bar passenger ropeway to transport people and toboggans back to the top of the mountain.

McElhanney was engaged to analyze the ASTM F24 standard and identify gaps with Canyon’s proposed design. Additional reviews of risk assessments, ride dynamics, installation layout, and structural calculations were also performed. Because Sunkid coasters are constructed in Europe, McElhanney brought in a Canadian Welding Bureau Certified Welding Inspector to evaluate fabrication compliance.

McElhanney also provided alternations to Canyons’ Red T-Bar so it could be used to transport people and toboggans back to the top of the mountain. Our team delivered a preliminary submission to AEDARSA for the ropeway alternation and performed on-site acceptance testing before delivering the final AEDARSA submission.

Explore Canyon’s mountain coaster here, on their website.

McElhanney provided: