In the beginning, Park City Ski Area's gondola ski lift was a novelty intended to lure skiers. Few ski areas in the United States had one.
It wasn't long, however, before it became the resort's - and to some degree, the town's - trademark. The gondola was Park City.Sunday, it became history. To cheers and music and a few tears, the last car - red car No. 31 - was pulled from the cable for what could be the last time.
This summer the gondola will be removed and replaced by two high-speed "Six Packs," or six-person chairlifts. Simply said, the gondola outlived its efficiency. It was too slow and too costly to operate. The decision was made, albeit not the easiest one, to remove and replace it.
"You can't believe the calls we received from people asking us to leave it. There are a lot of memories with the gondola. But we just couldn't do it," said Phil Jones, president of the ski area.
"We are looking at maybe putting it back up where the Town Lift is now," he said. "It wouldn't need to carry as many people and we could use it in the summer. That's why we're not selling any parts, even though a lot of people have called and asked to buy the cars. Our biggest problem is spare parts. They don't make some parts any more. But that decision is at least a year off."
For now, however, the gondola carried its last skier when the resort closed for the 1996-97 ski season on Sunday. And, as Jones pointed out, it closed the book on volumes of memories - 35 years' worth.
For 22 minutes, four passengers - two on each side of the car - were locked together for the ride to the top of the mountain. During gondola rides, a lot of friendships were cemented and a large number of marriage proposals accepted - and some rejected.
"I think everyone who has skied at Park City has some memory of the gondola, most of them good," said Charlie Lansche, communications director for the ski area.
It was a time to be close, a time to talk, a time to relax and stay warm.
The resort, then called Treasure Mountain, opened Dec. 21, 1963. The price tag on the gondola, billed as the longest lift in North America, was $636,000. Cost of the two new lifts is $7 million.
It traveled 21/2 miles and made one cable change at the Angle Station midmountain. It climbed a total of 2,300 vertical feet and had a capacity of 800 skiers per hour. Capacity on one of the new lifts is 2,800 skiers per hour. At its highest point, the gondola was more than 200 feet off the ground.
The gondola was designed by a company from Germany and constructed by Cannon Construction of Salt Lake City.
The first cars, 93 of them, were made by Fibron Co. of Salt Lake City, at a cost of $65,000. The body and seats were made of molded fiberglass and fastened to a stainless steel frame. Clear plastic on the upper half of the car gave passengers a panoramic view of the town, valley and resort.
Even though the lift was patterned after similar ones in Europe, the cars were made slightly larger because, as engineers reported back then, "American skiers and tourists were somewhat larger than their European counterparts."
Each car weighed 465 pounds and traveled at 620 feet per minute.
Between the gondola and three lifts, skier capacity when the resort opened was 2,700 skiers per hour and a lift ticket was $3.50. Today, a ticket is $49 and skier capacity at Park City is 23,000 per hour.
At the start of the season in 1982, all of the cars were replaced with new, redesigned ones.
Sunday was billed "Going, Going Gon-Dola" day at the resort. There were music, prizes and a number of people in 1960s dress. Most were wearing tie-dyed shirts. There was also a contest to guess the number on the last car removed from the cable. People were also being asked to write down their gondola memories.
Most of the day there were long lines for the gondola. At times, there were as many people there for the last ride as there were skiers to ride.
One of those was Dave Parkinson. He told Jones he was the first person to ride the gondola when the resort opened in 1963 and wanted to be the last on Sunday.
"I can't say enough about what the gondola did for this resort," said Jones, who first came to the ski area in 1964. "To take it out was a very difficult decision for us. It was everything we were known for. It is who we are and where we've been."
Left behind are the memories.