Plans are afoot to construct the world’s largest ski lift in the Canadian resort of Whistler.

The Peak to Peak Gondola will be the most expensive ever built in North America, weighing in at a cool $45 million, with 28 cabins that can carry up to 4,000 skiers, snowboarders and sightseers each hour between the adjacent Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

More than twice as long as the Golden Gate Bridge - at 2.7 miles - and supported 1,361 feet above the slopes by just four towers, the gondola will be “an engineering feat”, according to David Brownlie, chief operating officer of resort operator Intrawest Mountain Resorts.

“There’s no lift of this size and type in North America, really the word,” he told the Seattle Times.

For a 1.8-mile stretch between towers, gondolas will traverse the Fitzsimmons Valley unsupported and, to heighten the sense of vertigo, two of the cabins will feature glass-bottomed floors that give guests an unobstructed view of the cliffs below.

Patrons of the world-famous resort should be able to make the 11-minute journey from December 2008, well ahead of the Winter Olympics in 2010, which Whistler will host.

Notwithstanding a record-breaking ride high above the mountains, heading to Whistler as a skier or snowboarder warrants a watertight travel insurance policy.