The Eisgratbahn was built at a cost of 68 million Euro (about 75 million USD), supposedly making it the most expensive ski lift ever built (see this FallLine Skiing article). For comparison, the Peak-to-Peak gondola at Whistler, discussed in the Salt Lake Tribune, was "only" 51 million Canadian Dollars.
The Eisgratbahn is largely a people mover. Most of the Stubai Glacier ski area is at altitudes above the base parking lot, pictured below. One tends to take the Eisgratbahn up, ski the many lifts on the upper mountain, and then return to the base via the Eisgratbahn. One can ski to the bottom, but early and late season that's not possible and the routes to the base are often closed or simply not recommended due to avalanche hazard.
On the other hand, it is a much shorter (3.8 km) lift compared to what would need to be built up Little Cottonwood. Additionally, there is ample parking at the base.
The trib article states that the cost of such a gondola up Little Cottonwood Canyon would be north of $300 million dollars. Additionally, parking and transport to the gondola would need to be addressed. Who knows if any of this will ever happen. Further, I'm not even sure what to root for. I sometimes wonder if the best option is to do nothing, as crazy as that sounds.
Doing nothing is an option sometimes. As much as Solitude's solution is @#$%## it is a solution. Not many other solutions are floating around out there. Udot is pouring more concrete and shifting lanes at the turn outs to the resorts. That is not even a band aide fix. As a state WE are really good at advertising and bringing in bodies (skiutah, new international airport, Olympics X2). We are really poor at solving the problems we create. I don't wanna a gondola. I'm not gonna pay for parking either. I have been telling skiers that I meet to go vacation in C.O. they have weed there! And better beer
ReplyDeleteI don't see how a tram/gondola) could be better than trying a year or two of a low tech solution like the Zion National park bus system where cars are essentially not allowed. I understand even tons of buses cant move the needed amount of people in a one or two hour window, but it seems like they could have way more capacity in a short time window than separate gondola cars.
DeleteLike anywhere, our geography has a finite amount of space, businesses have a finite amount of an experience they can sell. I am opposed to large scale, permanent developments to handle 3-4 months of busy travel in the canyons for the businesses located there.
Please finally someone else is talking about a gondola. I would pay for the gondola myself if I was given the land to place the ends on as well as the towers. I would alos own the LCC road. I would place a very high cost to use the road and very little to ride gondola. In Colombia they have a system for transportation and in 2 years have transported 50 million passengers. You have given the cost way to high as it is only 3 to 12 million dollars per mile, 7 miles gets you all the way up the canyon. I'm so surprised that Mr. climate change isn't willing to put up a fight for a better solution. The buses are terrible they slow traffic down to a crawl because they are not suited to mtn travel. The buses only provide more profit for the ski areas as they don't have to build more parking to make the money. Let's make this happen!!!! It is cheap and effective means of moving lots of people, exactly what LCC needs.
ReplyDeleteMy two cents:
ReplyDeleteI would run a new TRAX line from Murray Central Station to the base of BCC (intersection of Wasatch Blvd and SR 190). Call it the WHITE line. I would also build a substantial parking facility (with perhaps thousands of parking spaces) at the base of BCC. I would price the WHITE Line to make taking it far more appealing than driving to and parking at the base of BCC. The WHITE Line would attract travellers on the RED and BLUE lines and the FrontRunner to access the Cottonwood Resorts and also attract commuters reverse commuting towards Murray Central Station.
At the base of LCC I would require a convenient (walking distance) transfer to a bus, train or aerial system going up BCC to an intersect point near Brighton where skiers (and hikers, bikers and others) would de-board for transit (bus, gondola, chairlift) to the base of each of the four Cottonwood resorts. I would preserve the LCC and BCC roads but charge sufficient tolls on both to both finance and incent the use of the new transit system.
I would also build aerial lifts or mass transit (train or bus) tunnels from Park City to the BCC resorts, with lift or tunnel connections to the LCC resorts. Again, I would use road tolls to subsidize mass transit, including tolls on highways to Park City.
With the properly incented use of mass transit (bus, rail, aerial) the scenic beauty of the Central Wasatch could be preserved, road traffic would be substantially reduced and all four Cottonwood resorts could be reached without car from both Salt Lake City and Park City. The Park City connection would allow visitors to stay in Park City and access the Cottonwood Resorts without using a car.
The gondola is infrastructure. The trax lines were invested in originally because the assumption people would always be traveling north and south through the city center of Utah. Or frontrunner for that matter. There was already shared resource that somewhat simplified that. What trains do is moves a ton of people efficiently with little impact on existing road infrastructure. A rail line would be expensive and a long project, but if we invested it would in uncouple public transit from the road. This makes sense if people will always want to go up canyon, which is apparent with history and current road/parking headaches.
ReplyDeleteSunshine Village in Banff has a very successful set up with their gondola from the parking lot to the slopes. Imagine being able to ski or board all the way to the mouth of the canyons if or when conditions allow!
ReplyDelete1.25 Billion in Taxes collected in Utah (yearly) from the resorts. Use THAT money for the gondola!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure where your number came from, but I doubt it is that high. Info on the economic contributions of Utah's ski industry is available at https://gardner.utah.edu/wp-content/uploads/Ski-Indust-2018-Fact-Sheet.pdf. 1.25 billion is closer to the annual amount in visitor spending, not taxes generated.
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