User:Lorna O'Donoghue/Teide Cable Car

The Teide Cable Car is located in the Teide National Park in Tenerife (Canary Islands): it is the highest aerial lift in S pain. It runs from the base station at the foot of Mount Teide - 2,356m above sea level to the La Rambleta station, which is at an altitude of 3,555m and just 163 m from the volcano summit, climbing a 1,199 m slope. The 2,482 metre trip takes between eight and ten minutes travelling at a maximum speed of 8 m/s. The cabins can carry up to 35 people.

History
The cable car has been in operation since 1929, when the lawyer Andrés Arroyo González de Chávez, inspired by the German cable cars in the Zugspitze region, planned the construction of a funicular at Mount Teide, covering the entire cost himself. The project was designed by the civil engineer José Ochoa after several studies had been conducted in Switzerland, the state of Tyrol and Germany. After many years of solid planning and modifications to the initial project, the company Teleférico del Pico Teide S.A., established on October 15, 1959 with the purpose of providing a cable car service, managed to acquire the land required for the project from the La Orotava city council in exchange for a school that had been built in Aguamansa and 800 m² of land. Work commenced in 1965, and the cable car was inaugurated in 1971.

On 15 March 2017, an accident left 60 people trapped inside the cable cars for two hours. They had to be rescued using ropes. As a result of the same accident, another 200 people were left at the end station (La Rambleta), at more than 3500 metres above sea level. Most decided to descend on foot (a 3-hour walk), and another 60 decided to stay at Refugio de Altavista lodge, one hour away. Some people were also rescued by helicopter.

Management
The facility is currently operated by Teleférico del Pico de Teide, a limited company set up in August 1971. In 2008 the Island Council of Tenerife or Cabildo de Tenerife had a 49.44% share-holding in the company. The cable car operator licence expires in the year 2037.