JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — An aerial tram that has carried an estimated 2 million skiers and tourists since 1966 to the top of 10,927-foot Rendezvous Mountain for a breathtaking overlook of the Jackson Hole valley will be retired next year because of its age, officials announced recently.
Experts concluded that the tram at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village could run for an unspecified number of years, but resort owners decided it should be decommissioned in September 2006 before any safety concerns arise.
"It's kind of an end of an era here; it's kind of a sad day for a lot of us," Jerry Blann, president of the resort, said. "There's a number of lifts around the mountain, but that's the one that gets to the peak."
Resort owner Jay Kemmerer said the decision was difficult but "our family is committed to a zero-risk approach."
"Forty years is a long service for any type of machinery, and it is time this 'old lady' retires," Kemmerer said.
The tram operated year-round with two enclosed cabins traveling 4,139 vertical feet up the mountain, which is part of the Teton Range. The cabins can hold up to 52 people. Its maiden run was July 31, 1966.
"The tram is part of Wyoming's signature tourism image," Blann said.
Blann said the resort was announcing the move a year in advance in hopes of spurring discussion on what to do after it is retired.
Replacing the tram would cost about $20 million, a cost the resort could not pay itself, he said, noting the resort owners have invested $55 million in other improvements since 1992.
"That's a costly proposition, and we will need to have the support of the public and possibly the state to be able to move forward with a tram replacement alternative," Blann said.