Crystal Gondola opening delayed

Looks like it is going to open on Dec 22nd, only 6 weeks after the area opening.
Seattle Times story
Just hoping in all the hurry to get this together that it works better than Chinook has this season.
Talk about a nightmare of a chair this season guaranteed to go down for at least 15 mins a day ???

I'm curious as to what the real reason is for the gondola construction extending so late into the start of ski season. Does anyone here know?

By that, I mean that even when they announced the gondola last spring, they said that they planned to have it open by Dec 10 -- which seems needlessly late.  Why not just plan to have it done by Nov 1? or even Oct 1?  Then if there are a few delays, it would still be finished in time for opening day.

Numerous other ski areas around the country which have installed high-speed quad or six-pack lifts over the years have easily fit the installation into the normal 6-month offseason (late April to late October). That's all that this particular gondola is, it's the same mechanicals as a high-speed-quad, but with cabins hanging from the haul rope instead of chairs. There's no large fully enclosed terminal buildings like some gondolas have, which might extend constuction time.  Why couldn't Crystal easily build it within 6 months?

I'm guessing that there must have been some financial or other (non-construction-related) reasons for Crystal to have intentionally planned to finish the gondola so late (Dec 10). I'm also assuming that if I ask the Crystal management for the real reason, they would be reluctant to reveal it, and instead offer some platitude about how the construction "just takes a long time". Maybe I'll ask anyway and see what they say.

I don't see any smoking gun. When you brake it down they demolished a building that housed a store, espresso stand, and the accounting department, had to regrade the area, prepare and install towers on Exterminator and build two new terminals during a wet and cold summer. Why does a December opening seem unreasonable?

I was told by a reliable source the remaining issues had to do with electrical stuff including the sensors that respond when something goes wrong like a cable jumping or stuff like that. They said something like, "we pretty much want to make sure that all the safety stuff is working". Not a bad idea.

No reason to rush big projects.

Also, having it open later than opening day gives them another chance for marketing. Just in time for Christmas eh!

After observing any aspect of Crystal management over the past n years can this possibly be a surprise?
Really?
Need proof:

www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...ex.php?topic=18387.0