Two days shy of six months since an intentionally-set wildfire killed 14 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings near Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the iconic Gatlinburg Sky Lift will reopen this Friday. On November 28th, 2016, Sky Lift employees left the lift running on its auxiliary diesel as they fled the fire, saving the haul rope. However, the top terminal and some towers were so severely burned that the entire lift needed to be replaced.For 62 years, Boyne Resorts has operated a chairlift on Crockett Mountain and the company chose a Doppelmayr Alpen Star triple chair for its third incarnation. Previous versions were a Heron double recycled from Sugar Bowl in 1954 and Riblet double brought to Tennessee in 1991.
Boyne Resorts announced construction of the new $2.4 million lift in early February and received its operating permit less than three months later on April 27th. Doppelmayr and Boyne collaborated to re-create the Sky Lift’s iconic appearance with 11 orange towers and 92 yellow chairs with wooden slats in place of galvanized ones. Although guests cannot yet get off at the top due to ongoing construction, the new lift is sure to be as popular as it has been for generations. When Boyne sold and leased-back the Sky Lift operation in 2005, it attracted 400,000 annual visitors and was valued at $19.9 million. Not bad for a 1,300′ double chair!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.368470773549464.1073741832.349532232109985&type=3
The new lift debuts just two months before the scheduled opening of Anakeesta, a competing adventure park on the other side of downtown Gatlinburg where Leitner-Poma of America is putting the finishing touches on a first-of-its-kind fixed-grip chondola. That system will feature 104 quad chairs, 8 gondola cabins and quite possibly the only new Alpha drive in the United States this year. Towers were flown on Saturday and Anakeesta is aiming for a July opening. With two brand new, unique lifts, I’m going to have to visit the Smokies sometime.
Lift Blog 
There was a former amusement park in Gatlinburg called Fun Mountain, and had an old Riblet double which still stands today, but has tremendously grown in.
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From a few weeks ago…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BToqDKkDKiF/
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I was wondering if Anakesta was built on the “fun mtn” site, guess not.
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There’s also a quad chairlift Doppelmayr built in 2012 that from the looks of Google Street View is also now abandoned. Cost $1.67 million!
http://www.furrow.com/event/absolute-auction-65-acres-smoky-mountain-resortdevelopment-land-with-income-producing-improvements/
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Ghost Mountain in the Sky (or whatever they’re now called) ‘s lift could probably be easily put back into service …
It’s “closed” but by no means “abandoned”; it’s being marketed as a turnkey resort/amusement area
Fun Mountain, OTOH …. there you’re gonna need some serious lumberjack skills.
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Ghost Town in the Sky is in Maggie Valley, NC. I was referring to Wilderness Mountain in Wears Valley, TN near Gatlinburg. Both are currently closed.
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What a beautiful new lift.. it looks spectacular.
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Such a great looking lift, Can’t wait for it to open and the top deck to be finished!
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