Peruvian was originally installed by Doppelmayr in 1976, but ended to the left about a quarter of the way up where the Rothman Way, Blackjack, Lower Chips and Who Dunnit trails split so it didn’t serve much terrain as the Tram did. In 2006, the old lift was removed and relocated with new parts to Bridger Bowl, MT where it got installed as the expert-only Schlasman’s. The new lift, initially controversial among locals, ran over double the length of the old one, the new alignment was more parallel to the Tram and it ends just below the summit of Hidden Peak about 500 feet below. Also to further ensure Peruvian’s importance, a new one-of-a-kind ski tunnel was dug between the top terminal of the lift to Mineral Basin, making it the only ski-tunnel in North America. Peruvian also made it move conveniently lappable to lap about 80% of Peruvian Gulch’s terrain. This lift is a mad workhorse, it usually runs in the summertime for scenic rides, but also it’s been running more in the late season lately, as Snowbird routinely performs maintenance on the Tram. They consider Peruvian and the Tunnel a ‘backup’ to the Tram after major areas like Gad Valley to close for the season, making this area not just good in the spring, but also alleviate crowds since there are 2 options. Peruvian is also surprisingly fast for a lift of this length since other detachables at Snowbird tend to run a little less speed like around 700-800 fpm with Peruvian over 950 like it ran today and Mineral Basin not far behind at around 900 usually. Peruvian is such a powerhouse and it’s not gonna go anywhere anytime soon!
Capacity: 1,800 per hour
Ride Time: 8.5 minutes
Vertical Rise: 2,412 ft
Length: 8,031 ft
Towers: 29
Carriers: 124
Design Speed: 1,000 fpm
Speed day of recording: 952 fpm
Filmed Memorial Day, 2024