Here we are, Snowbird’s Legendary Aerial Tram. This beast was first installed by Garaventa of Switzerland in 1971, having started a couple years before, to launch Snowbird into the real skiing world where Little Cottonwood Canyon and other neighbors have a high share of top-tier snowfall and quality snow. The Tram starts at the Snowbird Center a few hundred feet up from the lower elevation areas with the top being at the iconic Hidden Peak at 11,000 feet, the highest lift-served point at the resort. When one rides the Tram, theoretically one can ski down every run at Snowbird’s frontside, Mineral Basin and even Gad 2 via a little hike (even tho Gad 2 has direct lift service there) There are 4 towers, with 3 are located at the base visible from the 2nd floor of the Snowbird Center with 172-ton counterweights supporting the 2 track ropes, rather than using bollards. The track ropes provide immense stability for the tram while the haul rope drives the tram up and down. The Tram also runs in the summer for scenic rides and made it an even better experience with the rooftop balcony debuting last year, albeit with an extra-cost add-on. The Tram not only carries riders and sightseers. It can carry a lot of different other cool stuff, like avalanche equipment, and when Mineral Basin was getting installed in 1999, the Tram was used to hoist the equipment to the top. The Tram has been updated a lot over the years including a control panel revamp in around the year 2000, a haul rope replacement in 2016, and most recently, new custom-made Garaventa tram cabins with significantly more bells & whistles in 2022.
NEW CABINS 2022: This video features the newer cabins especially which you’ll see during the ride on the blue tram. The new red tram (I call it new red/new blue) is slightly newer than the new blue since there was an error involving the ‘preexisting’ new red tram where it fell off the crane as during the lifting & rigging process, damaging not just that cabin itself, but also the old red cabin which the former fell on. That meant Doppelmayr/Garaventa had to send a new replacement, for the next season, while Snowbird scrambled to repair the old tram and act as a counterbalance during summer operations for the new blue, which was put in place successfully. After summer, Snowbird removed the old red and this time, succeeded in lifting and rigging it to place, in time for the next winter season. Some cool new features include a Frey AG Stans touchscreen controls, automatic doors & vertical 90 ° rotating gates at the top. Snowbird’s tram is an icon to the ski world especially in North America and will be for future decades and generations to come!
Capacity: 100-110 people per cabin
Ride Time: 8.5 minutes
Vertical Rise: 2,900 ft
Length: 8,395 ft
Towers: 4
Cabins: 2
Design Speed: 1,970 fpm (10 m/s)
Speed day of recording: Approx. 1568 fpm
(8 m/s)
Filmed Memorial Day, May 27th, 2024