Halfway between Denver and Summit County’s ski resorts, 22 million vehicles a year transit I-70 in the town of Idaho Springs. Local businesswoman Mary Jane Loevlie sees an opportunity for 400,000 of them to stop and take a gondola ride from the historic Argo Mill and Tunnel to a new summit plaza. The Colorado Sun reports a group of investors led by Loevlie has partnered with Leitner-Poma to build The Mighty Argo Cable Car, an eight passenger gondola system in what was once a mining boom town. “We are marrying outdoor recreation and heritage tourism at a reclaimed EPA Superfund site,” said Loevlie at a community gathering yesterday. “You know what, we are putting the fun in Superfund.”
The concept resembles Silver Mountain, Idaho, a successful public-private partnership that saw construction of a 3.1 mile gondola adjacent to Interstate 90 atop of one of the nation’s largest EPA cleanup sites. The Colorado project initially focused on constructing a hotel, conference center and stores but morphed to begin with the gondola due to revenue potential. The 10 minute lift ride would ascend 1,300 vertical feet to a restaurant and park. Capacity would be 600 visitors per hour, modest by ski lift standards. Bike carriers would be included for adventurous guests seeking to take advantage of nearby trails.
Local approval for the project is still pending but it’s possible the gondola could launch as soon as next summer. The Mighty Argo Cable Car would join an elite group of scenic tramways and gondolas across Colorado: the Estes Park Tramway, Glenwood Gondola, Monarch Crest Scenic Tram and Royal Gorge Gondola, all of which were constructed by Leitner-Poma and its predecessor companies.
Lift Blog 
To my knowledge, the gondola built at Silver Mountain in Kellogg, Idaho was never successful. VonRoll repossessed the ski area and sold it to Jeld-Wen after operating it for a few years.
LikeLike
Definitely a complex story that still isn’t over. It depends on how you judge success. Is Silver making boatloads of cash for the original investors? No. Does it provide tax revenue, jobs and recreational opportunities in a region down on its luck? Yes.
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/oct/30/money-moguls-line-up-to-buy-silver-mountain/
LikeLike
Lots more project documents and details are available here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1o_DfqwNlwBdzJCMqs_QdoXv3LY1Yt1YY
LikeLike
This afternoon I may be able to get some pics of the site for the Argo gondola.
LikeLike
I see that they cleared a liftline from I-70
LikeLike
Sounds like the project may have resumed? Work us being done on the mountain biking trails
LikeLike
I heard this project is finally breaking ground in the next few weeks. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to reach anyone at the Argo or Gondola Ventures to confirm. Not sure if Leitner-Poma is still the manufacturer. If anyone knows details, please comment or send me an email at Peter@liftblog.com
LikeLike
Update: Doppelmayr has replaced Leitner-Poma as the ropeway supplier for this project. They will break ground next month.
LikeLike
That’s sad to see. I was really looking forward to Leitner Poma building it.
LikeLike
Very strange, wondered what happened there. I know a lot of the single or smaller lift operators seem to like to go with Poma simply since they are more local and able to help. (They helped us with the original tram at the Glenwood Caverns plenty of times even though they hated the thing.) Curious to see how this goes and what happened.
LikeLike