Garaventa and Big Sky Resort are in the home stretch of a herculean effort to bring modern lift service to Lone Peak, the first new tram built at a North American ski area since 2008. Switzerland-based Garaventa is the same outfit that brought skiers the new Jackson Hole tram 15 years ago, the Snowbird tram in 1971 and the Palisades Tahoe tram before that.
The original Lone Peak Tram, which catapulted Big Sky to the upper echelon of extreme skiing in 1995, will carry its final souls a few weeks from now. The only passengers left to hoist are construction workers and a few lucky spectators touring the progress. With one rope and 15 passenger “beer can” cabins, the tram is more jig-back gondola than a true aerial tram. It was built by Doppelmayr, the Austrian heavyweight which absorbed Garaventa six years after skiers began conquering Lone Peak. Garaventa remains a specialized subsidiary of the Doppelmayr Group focused on aerial trams, funiculars and the Swiss market.
The old tram needed to go. The bottom terminal was built atop a rock glacier and, while designed for it, flowed at least 25 feet downhill over the past 28 years. The lower dock no longer sits level such that water pools in triangles at corners. Erroneous faults occur routinely as the tram completes its final missions to 11,166 feet (it’s not a safety issue, each fault is investigated before the lift is restarted).
This summer’s greatest challenge was not the tram installation itself but rather setting twin tower cranes needed to build the 100 foot intermediate tower and top terminal. Each crane had to be flown in sections weighing up to 9,000 lbs. It took multiple Chinook helicopters weeks with pauses for bad weather and other setbacks. Once the cranes were live and Big Sky’s own employees trained to operate them, the installation team from Garaventa could get to work.
Big Sky and contractors completed micropiles, tiebacks and concrete work last summer, setting the stage for this summer’s steel erection and rope pulling marathon. As of today, three of the four track ropes are on their bollards. A fourth track rope pull is in progress with the haul rope on deck. For each track rope, a helicopter pulled a 10 mm pilot line up to the top terminal and back down. Then crews attached and pulled successively larger 18 mm, 22 mm and 32 mm ropes until finally the smooth 48 mm track rope was up the line. The process is slow and steady with up to 10 Swiss men on headsets and binoculars monitoring every inch of progress for 5-6 days per rope. The 37 mm haul rope will be pulled in similar fashion and spliced into a continuous loop like more traditional ski lifts. The tram will be driven from the bottom station with no counterweight required for tensioning. Redundancy is built in everywhere, from multiple transformers to dual motors, evacuation drives and generators. Frey AG Stans supplied the lift’s state-of-the-art control system, similar to one recently installed on Snowbird’s tram.
This winter, guests will pay per tram ride rather than a daily rate as they did in the final years of the old tram. Big Sky notes the average tram day pass purchaser only rode 1.8 times. The privilege cost $20 to $100 depending on demand and some were riding the tram multiple times solely to feel better about their investment. This added to long lines and detracted from the Lone Peak experience. New tram access will cost less – $10 to $40 per ride – charged automatically to a credit card with each scan at the bottom dock.
Big Sky Ski Patrol will monitor conditions hourly and decide how many skiers and snowboarders to let on the cars, which can hold up to 75 riders. Big Sky will also debut a sightseeing specific line designed to fill excess tram capacity with guests not utilizing limited ski terrain off the summit. Come 2025, foot passengers will be able to ride a new 10 passenger gondola from the Mountain Village right to the base of the new tram. This boarding location lies 700 vertical feet lower than the old tram station, eliminating the need to ride Powder Seeker for a tram lap. Most importantly, it’s below the rock glacier. The new tram will eventually open year round, though summer 2024 will be spent completing glass enclosures around each station.
Once rope pulling wraps up, the tram’s two cabins will be driven up from the village and attached to the haul rope. The CWA cabins will feature automatic doors, a glass floor panel and seating for 12. Acceptance testing is expected to take four to five weeks. Big Sky has been careful not to advertise a grand opening date, but the word December is being thrown around. That month will mark 15 years since the last new tram debuted in this part of the world and 50 years since Big Sky opened.
Lift Blog 
Incredible write-up. This will be a game changer in several ways for Big Sky. Once summer operations come online, this will be a sightseeing lift ride(s!) like no other in North America. I hope they are thinking seriously about what kind of experience they can create for visitors with the limited space available at the top.
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Here’s an interesting question: which of Big Sky’s trams do you all find most impressive
For the new one obviously the challenge of getting such a massive tram to a small peak was quite the feat of engineering. The construction of the tower in its location looked extremely difficult, and the process of building the cranes also looked absolutely insane.
On the other hand the old tram had its own set of challenges. The rock core ice glacier at the bottom terminal, the construction at the peak without preexisting lift service, and the sheer drama of the fact that it has no towers.
They both have a strong case for being one of the coolest lifts ever built, but here’s my take… As far as ride experience I don’t think the old tram can be beat. Being able to offload on Lone Peak without going over any towers and feeling like the cabin will smash into the mountain side is such a cool ride every single time. But for the engineering side I think what this team from Big Sky and Garaventa has been able to accomplish is absolutely jaw dropping. I never thought it would be possible to build anything close to this scale on Lone Peak, and with such a unique set of challenges they absolutely blew the design and execution out of the park. Can’t wait to ride this thing in December (hopefully)
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The old LPT is truly one of, if not the most legendary lift experiences of all time. I like many are sad to see it go, but the new machine is a worthy successor, and I couldn’t be more proud of the results of the 7 years of planning and the hard work of everyone out there that has gotten us to this point!
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Yeah the old one got pretty f*cking crowded lol. Also it was very hard to get a good view and it was cramped AF.
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When you say there’s no counterweight for the haul rope, do you mean there’s no tensioning system at all, or that it’s hydraulic? The structure with the upper haul rope bullwheels on it kind of looks like it’s meant to slide up and down the tension strut it’s mounted on.
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If you mean the old tram, it had a truly passive tension system: the glacier. It moves at almost the same speed that the rope stretches at.
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The haul rope looks to be tensioned by the carriage carrying the two upper return bullwheels, if one looks closely the cage like beams (the bent profile with numerous pin hole locations) descending down toward the bollards they have hydraulic rams pinned in them.
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Hats off to Big Sky and the Boyne team for investing in such a cool feat of engineering. I’m a Utahn and can genuinely say that the Snowbird Tram is one of the most iconic ski features we have in the state. This project is going to further put Big Sky and Montana on the map. I can’t wait to ride it.
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“This project is going to further put Big Sky and Montana on the map.” That’s a really bad thing TBH :(
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Trams are always mind-blowing lifts, but this one is more so than most. The weirder the terrain, the better. This reminds me of the construction of the 1938 Tram at Cannon, but this mountain is rockier and construction techniques are far better now.
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What is the timeline for the remaining parts of the 2025 plan. I know:
2023:
•Tram opens
2024:
•Tram terminal glass enclosures
•Lone Peak viewing platform
2025:
•2 stage Explorer gondola
What is the timeline for the on mountain food and beverage center between the tram and the gondola, the new Snowsports building at the mid station, and the surface lifts for the mid mountain beginner area?
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if you look closely in Peters photo where he’s in the top terminal looking directly down the lift line you can see they’ve been building the snow sports midstation.
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Where would this be exactly in the photo? Can’t seem to find it myself.
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Where exactly would this be? Can’t seem to find it myself.
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It’s left of the tower in the photo.
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look the second foto! click for big and zoom! the midstation is under construcion…. at the midstation will be also the garage for the 10pers cabins!
the installation from the monocable comes 2024…. if they will finish 2025 an with summer service! the 10pers gondel will be open dez 2024
what a great project. It should also be understood that the tram will be charged separately as they simply want to try to provide the guest with the maximum experience. If this were included in the ski pass, there would be such long lines that people be not happy….
The price is certainly designed to get the best experience and not to maximize profits for businesses
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As others have stated, need to look closely at that 2nd picture. You can clearly see the new lift line from the base to the mid-station on the left side of the picture. IIRC, that will be an angled station that will result in the top half running up the Mr. K trail, topping out right between Powder Seeker and the new tram base.
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There building it already?
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Yeah – new lower gondola is basically explorer lift line with a left turn crossing Tango Trees up to near the new Tram base.
Interesting to see it’s already under construction. Big Sky hasn’t been highlighting that. (Though the tree cut in Tango was pretty obvious last winter)
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Why continue to cover this company that unlawfully discriminates against its customers and forces it’s employees to unionize? There are plenty of well run mountains staffed by decent people.
So why? I’m waiting.
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Here are my thoughts on the tram: First I’m really hyped to ride it. Second it’s an extremely impressive engineering feat. One thing I don’t like is the per ride cost. I see where they’re coming from but they basically contradict themselves on their reasoning. Their reason for changing it to per ride was to make it more accessible for sightseers. Their reason for the pricing was that the average person rode the tram 1.8 times. Do you see the dilemma? The problem is that they are considering sightseers and skiers/riders as the same people. The sightseers aren’t going to ride the tram more than once but the skiers/riders are going to ride the tram more than two times. That means that charging per ride is a good deal for sightseeing but a really bad deal for everyone else. At the very least they could have both options available. I really hope they realize this but I’m not hopeful because the Big Sky management sucks @ss lol. That’s one thing you have to give Vail Resorts credit for; they run it better than Boyne.
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I agree with what you are saying about the cost to ride the tram. I feel like the way they structured it for this coming season makes it so that you will feel guilty about every single time you want to ride the tram rather than hyped for the awesome experience. This is not how you want your customers to feel. Ideally the tram would be included with the lift ticket.
I would love to see some kind of reservation system be used to avoid the line instead of a paywall. That way people can show up at their time slot and ride the tram without having to pay or wait. It eliminates the main issue with both the previous systems.
At the very least, having an option for a single ride tram ticket and also a full day tram ticket would make sense. People who want to actually ski Lone Peak would buy the day long pass and be able to ride as many or as few times as they want, while sightseers and one time riders could buy the single ride pass and they would both have an option made for them. Obviously this system is still a work in progress and hopefully management will be trying to implement some changes to discover what works best.
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I understand what they are trying to accomplish with managing traffic on the mountain, allowing the sightseers up at a reasonable price, etc but when you are spending $$$ for lift ticket it is hard to stomach the extra $$. Based on my past experience at BS I suspect that it was a small minority of skiers each day that actually rode the tram once, let alone twice.
All that being said, here is what I think would be a decent compromise:
Include 1 Tram ride/day for all lift tickets.
Additional rides can be purchased using the system they are using for this season.
Offer multi-ride packs (5 rides, 8 rides, etc) at a slightly discounted price for those who are really motivated. In theory that could really be a punch pass that is good for the season. Ie: You buy 20 rides and use them throughout the season.
Maybe in the end a reservation is required, but in my opinion that is OK. At least you can plan your day and get the most out of the rest of the mountain without being stuck in line waiting for your turn on the tram.
I am finally headed back out there this year and I am hoping the weather and lines allow me to make one lap on the tram. Hard to stomach the extra $$ when I just paid $$$ for a day pass, but regardless if I get one lap I will be a happy camper. Looking forward to being back on the mountain in March.
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Agree with these ideas. At least throw in a tram ride with multi day lift tickets and season passes.
And bring back free scenic rides after 2:30. Would reduce the demand.
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Here is the part I disagree with: Vail does not run it better than Boyne. Not by a long shot!!! Have you read about the mess that Midwest ski areas have dealt with after being acquired by Vail? What about the lack of investment Vail puts into their mountain infrastructure?
Boyne might not be perfect, but they get a lot of things right. They invest heavily in their mountains, prioritize the ski experience over the volume of visitors, and listen to what their customers want. The reason SC6 was put in before all of this is because it is what gusts requested repeatedly. Same with Barker getting a D-Line instead of the old Jordan at Sunday River. At the end of the day, Boyne puts skiers first while Vail’s focus is their shareholders and real estate development first
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I kinda meant how they run their own mountain. Boyne neglects every single mountain except for Big Sky and maybe Sunday river.
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At a time that was true but over the last few years they’ve been on a spending spree across all their resorts. Loon has gotten Kank 8 (D-Line bubble), Seven Brothers HSQ, and the south peak expansion. Sugarloaf is in the midst of their west mountain expansion with a HSQ. Boyne Mountain got Diciples 8 (D-Line), Boyneland 4, and Super Bowl 3. The Highlands is getting a bubble chair for goodness sake with Camelot 6 (D-Line). Brighton is getting Crest 6 (D-Line). Then there are the Alpental improvements at Summit at Snoqualmie and the SkyQuad at Cypress. Once you add Jordan 8 and Barker 6 (both D line bubbles) and the Merril Hill lifts at Sunday River to all the projects at Big Sky, you end up with a staggering amount of investment spread across the portfolio.
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I see your point I guess.
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