Well it’s official…Jackson Hole is building a new tram. The headline for the article I just found is ‘100 passenger, state of art aerial tramway’. Here are a few details from the press release at OutdoorNewsWire.com:

TETON VILLAGE, WY.-Jackson Hole Mountain Resort officials announced today their intention to enhance the legacy created over the last 40 years by committing to build a new 100 passenger, state of the art aerial tramway from the base in Teton Village to the summit of Rendezvous Mountain, a vertical rise of 4,139’. This tram will have the longest continual vertical rise of any ski lift in North America.

Quote: “We studied many options and reduced them to a Tram or Bi-Cable Gondola. We all agreed the iconic nature of our ‘red box’ was something to be treasured but we kept options open until the final and most recent decision. Ultimately the final analysis was financial. We are a small, family owned company with finite resources. This new tram will cost an estimated $25 million and so far we have had to plan on funding the entire project privately. In conjunction with the $14 million already committed to capital improvements this summer there will be a strain felt on our company resources, but we are steadfast in this decision thanks to the commitment from our owners. On our 40th Anniversary the company has reached a pinnacle of investment,’ stated Blann.

Interesting turn of events. Small, family owned company, eh? I don’t doubt family owned by maybe ’small’ was the wrong use of a word. Greek Peak in New York state near Ithaca is small, not JHMR.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 21st, 2006 at 11:30 pm and is filed under Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.