Backcountry
Industry News
Australian technology start-up, “Drongo”, is predicting that drones powerful enough to carry humans will soon replace traditional ski-lifts. Drongo is a new company specializing in the research and development of automated aerial drones big enough to transport people.
Drongo’s CEO, Dr. Ana Gram-Desnor said in an interview with Sugar Research Australia:
“Human payload capable drones have been around for a few years, but until now, no-one has produced one that is light enough or inexpensive enough for the average person!”
Dr. Ana Gram Desnor is a skier with the dream of replacing conventional transportation methods with flying drones that will one day be able to transport skiers and snowboarders to the tops of mountains in a matter of minutes. Drongo is currently developing a human-carrying drone the size of a small car that, due to its unique carbon-fiber construction and patented folding technology, is able to be folded up and stored in a backpack.
The company has talked about plans to manufacture a recreational drone that will be available to the public. The drone will be able to transport humans where they see fit, and there’s nothing stopping us from going to the tops of powder-filled mountains. Yet, there are concerns in the ski industry amongst talk of introducing robots capable of flying skiers up the mountain.
Apart from variable mountain conditions that could cause a drone to crash invoking human death, noise is also an issue. The buzz from the current drone models sound like a biblical swarm of mosquitos, and this is not the atmosphere that most ski areas lean towards. However, just how high is the likelihood that we may begin to start using automated aerial vehicles to take us to where our heart’s desire, which, for many of us, just so happens to be to the top of that mountain over there?
I would foresee drones being used in the back country. Putting more untrained and unskilled people on the tops of mountains triggering avalanches.
What is this stupidity that snowbrains is publishing ?
It’s never going to happen so why even give space to it on your website ? Ski resorts have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in ski lift infrastructure. Hey let’s spend more on technology that will never be safe or capable of moving thousands of people in an hour ?
How dumb is this idea , this is someone desperately trying to legitimize the amount of money spent on a project that has no way of ever being accepted as mass transit . Period .
Imagine the carnage this could create. It will make e-bikes look legit.