Tram-atized in Jackson
December 21st, 2008Posted in Skiing in the Tetons
I guess everyone in Jackson is happy now that they have an aerial tram to ride again at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. The local newspaper, the national ski press, and the resort’s marketing department have sure made a big deal over it, as have the Jackson bloggers. Has any ski lift in history been hyped as much as this one? It is not opening new terrain, it is not an engineering triumph of any sort (a construction challenge, yes), and it is not even really new- just a replacement with a skier capacity increase. But even this capacity increase from 50 or so skiers to 100 or so skiers only places this tram in the mid-range of size for these trams in use at other ski resorts around the world.
So why all the hoopla? It is the sizzle, and not the steak. It is marketing. Jackson no longer has the longest continuous vertical drop of any ski area in North America, as it had for decades, nor, now, even in the U.S. The resort felt it needed a symbol of bigness (and badness) to remind skiers of its still big (and badass) terrain. It couldn’t make its mountain any taller, but by offering the only ski lift to serve over four thousand vertical feet of terrain with just one lift ride, it could continue to lay claim to a certain macho image in the ski world.
Maybe the $30 million plus price tag will prove worth it if the marketing angle pays off. As a skier I’d have preferred it if they had chosen to replace the tram with a two stage gondola. Gondolas are more common place and less photogenic, but they offer three real advantages. They cost less to build, they move more skiers per hour ( many times more than a tram) and they are much more comfortable to ride in (skiers sit, instead of standing like a tram requires one to do).
The resort nixed the gondola idea because they said they needed a lift to be able to work in 50 mph wind conditions. Why? Who skis in 50 mph wind conditions? I’ll bet a good engineer could design a gondola that would perform in 50 mph winds if needed.
A two stage gondola with a mid-station where the top of the Thunder lift is now would have made access to much of the resort’s best and most desirable terrain much easier for skiers. The best snow on the mountain is usually in Rendezvous bowl. Why limit access to it to just the few hundred skiers per hour the new tram can haul? Since the famous Hoback runs are really only enjoyably skiable by full top of mountain to bottom of mountain runs, they too are limited by tram capacity. Why does the resort continue to ration access to its best terrain?
A two stage gondola would also be an asset on bad weather days when the top of the mountain has to be closed. It could then still provide lots of uphill capacity for long runs on the great terrain below its mid-station.
In the summer, when gawking tourists by the thousands want a scenic ride to the top of the Tetons, a gondola would do that very well and more comfortably. No loss of revenue for the resort here.
Well, it wasn’t my money that was spent to install the new Big Red, so my kvetching counts for nothing. But after the hoopla dies down and reality returns, maybe skiers will again begin referring to it as the cattle car. It is just a big box where skiers crowd and jostle in to stand in the cold for a ten minute ride, and only those pressed against the windows get to enjoy the view. This was truly an opportunity for the ski resort to “think outside the box”, instead, they just enlarged the box.
Tram-atized in Jackson commented:
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Ski Waheenie commented:
Totally agree with you, except for the fact that I don’t think more skier capacity on in Rendezvous Bowl would be a good thing. When the old tram was around, I never really rode it because the line was too long. So I was actually stoked when they put the little lift up the bowl.
The new tram is great for those days when you want to quickly access the top to get out of bounds, but having a gondola directly to Thunder would be so much more awesome.
Bottom line- the Jackon Hole marketing department is way out of line. They have created one stupid campaign after another- first overdoing the “old west” theme, then presenting the resort as “family friendly” and now making such a huge fuss over the tram. If JHMR didn’t waste so much money on stupid projects (to name a few- 1. a $10million restaurant built in a slide path, 2. a chairlift to Casper restaurant that noone uses, 3. a new overpriced Tram), they might be able to pay their employees a decent wage and offer better deals to locals on season passes.
Better stop here before I get too worked up.
snowman commented:
I too have concerns about heavier skier traffic in Rendezvous. I didn’t ski it often enough the past coupe of years when it was served by the low capacity double chair- did it get moguled up too badly? I do remember doing laps on it years ago when it was served by a surface lift and I didn’t think it suffered , but maybe I was just there in snowy periods.
I’m curious, do you know if the JHMR actually spends much time having a constructive dialog with its users to factor in their points of view when they plan their projects?
Thanks for commenting!