Skilifts.org / SORT Forum

There is a group that has formed in Ogden, Utah to try to get some sort of conveyance (gondola, funitel, tram, etc.) from an urban area to a ski resort. Ogden (located 45 minutes north of Salt Lake) is an area of a few hundred thousand people located at a mountain base where a major ski resort (Snowbasin) is located on the other side of the mountain from the city. Snowbasin was where the 2002 Olympic downhill took place, is owned by Earl Holding of Sun Valley fame, and is truly a world-class resort. This group would like to see a conveyance going from inside the city limits to the ski resort. We are currently trying to draw comparisons from other places in the world. I have looked into a city in Italy called Aosta, but cannot seem to get much information on it. Silver Mountain in Kellog, Idaho has also been looked at, as well as Sandia Peak in N.M. If anybody can tell me any information about any of these locations and any other locations that come to mind where a conveyance leaves from a city setting and goes into the mountains, it would help out a lot. I am in need of pictures, links, etc. Please help me! I need things to research!
Thanks :D
This post has been edited by UTmorMAN: 20 February 2005 - 12:37 PM

Well that sounds interesting. How many miles is it from ogden to snowbasin? The tram at Silver Mountain is about 3 miles long and that is pretty much the longest such ropeway in the US. Anything longer then that might be a bit tricky. I dont have much more info but others on the forum do, so they will hopefully reply soon.

We are also looking at around 3 miles and we would like it to leave from around the campus of Weber State University, which is right at the base of the mountain. We are thinking of something that can carry around 300,000-350,000 passengers a year (that is what our feesability studies have told us would be the ridership averages) or more. But it gets even more interesting. The city is also pressing the state transit authority to put in a gondola from a future commuter rail station in our downtown that would go to the aforementioned Weber State University. So people would, in essense, be able to ride in on a commuter train, take a gondola to the University campus, then take another conveyance to the ski resort. Here is a link telling more about that: Ogden Gondola Article

It sounds like a good idea though it may get a little pricey to run 2 seperate rather long gondolas. Unless some sort of ride fee separate from the lift ticket was instated it might be cheaper to look into alternative forms of transportation at least in town from the train station to the University. Also would snowbasin cease to have parking at it's base? It would seem like a waste to have both parking and a gondola up at the base when often it's more convenient to drive right to the hill.

Hmm, I like this idea. I think a gondi or funitel would be better if there was going to be a lot of traffic. I funitel might be better if wind was going to be a lasting issue. I guess if they got a funi it would be from DoppCtec, because to my knowledge LPOA doesn't make funitels.

You could order a Poma funi from Europe for the right price, no doubt, but for a project like this, you would probably go for the lowest bidder, which would be DoppelmayrCTEC most likely in this case
Were you looking into a tram? (just an observation from your avatar image)

I'm lost! Explain to me in better detail.

Oh! I get it now! I think it's a great idea! Just never been done before. I've always wanted to see one of those.

Boeinglover, on Feb 20 2005, 07:38 PM, said:

What do you mean by "Just never been done before"? There are actually a few lifts like this.

edmontonguy, on Feb 20 2005, 04:31 PM, said:

There has to be two seperate systems because of a few reasons. The gondola they are talking about from the rail hub would be a UTA (Utah Transit Authority) project done with taxpayer funds. The conveyance to Snowbasin would be a private venture and would therefore have to be on a seperate system. Also, because of the length, the conveyance to Snowbasin probably would have to be a double cable system, whereas the gondola from downtown to Weber State University would probably be a mono cable system. Another reason that there needs to be two systems is because UTA wants to have something going to the University Campus. That's their stake in this. The transportation corridor from Downtown to the University has been ranked the fourth most pressing need by the state transit authority and the gondola has simply come up as a cheeper mode of transportation that won't further disrupt traffic (bus rapid transit, and light rail have come up as other options, all of which would take up a lane of traffic), be more tourist friendly, and also be up for federal developmental funding. The University has a horrible parking situation (it is a commuter school), and the numbers say that more than 30% of the students commute daily from the south and many would ride commuter rail into town, thus helping out the parking situation. Also, it could be more convenient to drive for some people, but the idea is to have a tourist aspect to it, thus making Ogden the "ski town" of sorts. You need to look at the aspect of driving on questionalble roads in the winter time also.
As far as a tram goes. Yes, the idea of a tram connecting the city to Snowbasin has been around for thirty years and just has never happened. Most people in the community associate the idea with a tram, that is one reason that we used it on our logo, but we used the generic term "Lift" to leave the option open to any sort of idea. A tram would be nice, but we would like to have the in and out option where people don't have to wait for a tram to come up and down (especially on a three mile run).

SkiBachelor, on Feb 20 2005, 08:53 PM, said:

This is a new idea to at least the US. An urban center the size of ours has never had a ski resort tied into commuter rail and possible gondolas (as far as I know). I know in Europe they do things like this all of the time, which is why I am trying to draw comparisons to our situation.

Hmm, A tram wouldn't be so good. With 100 person cabins a 3 mile span would have a capicity of only around 200pph. A bicable could work but those track ropes would sure be heavy and I've never head of such a long bicable. In this case I'm thinking a funitel is the best idea. I've heard of a similar plan linking gardnerville nevada to the top of the kingsbury grade, right up to heavenly.

I believe a monocable system would work fine for connecting Odgen to Snowbasin, unless you are trying to cut costs by building as few towers as possible.

Unless the line encounters heavy winds or has several large spans, i think a monocable would be the cheapest and easiest lift to engineer.

What are the wind patterns around this area?

SkiBachelor, on Feb 20 2005, 10:02 PM, said:

We are thinking few towers would be the best route to get by all of the oppostion, which is made up primarily of environmeltalist groups and some in the general public who don't want the mountain scarred. As far as wind patterns, there is moderate wind in the bench areas at times, so we really want a funitel, but the expense would be in excess of $30 million.

KZ, on Feb 20 2005, 09:57 PM, said:

If you can, please tell me more about this idea around Heavenly. This is one that I had not heard of before.

I would like to have more of this in other parts of North America. I think a tram would be the worst option, but either a funitel or mono-cable gondi would be fine. It would be nice to see a funi in Utah, though. Don't see too many of those in North America.

highspeedquad, on Feb 20 2005, 11:01 PM, said:

So where else in N. America do you see a funitel?

Only at Squaw Valley, California. :( There is also a Funitel-style gondola in Quebec at Parc Montmorency.

-Iain