Girdwood, AK – Alyeska Resort’s aerial tramway has reopened following an accident on Dec. 31 in which one of the lift’s passenger cabins struck a support tower. Resort staffers and lift company mechanics have devised a creative solution to resume operation of the lift, albeit at a lower capacity, while repairs continue on the lift’s badly damaged second cabin by manufacturer CWA.
The lift in question is a jigback tram, meaning that as one passenger cabin ascends the mountain a second simultaneously descends, with the weight of each cabin counterbalancing the other. One of the cabins was so badly damaged in the Dec. 31 incident, in which it was virtually impaled upon the tower’s guides, that repairs can’t be completed before the end of the current winter season. The cabin became caught on the rail, which came through the window and pulled the cabin into the tower as the haul rope was slowed to a stop by the operator, resort officials indicate.
To solve the counterbalancing problem a steel utility cabin weighing 8,000 lbs. has been added to the cable to simulate the weight of the missing passenger cabin. The modified lift will run at a lower speed as well, meaning that approximately four uphill passenger trips taking eight minutes each will be made per hour. Inspections have been performed by Doppelmayr, Frey and Mountain Guard lift inspectors and the lift reopened over the weekend.
“We’ve decided to operate the Tram this way to give access to our season passholders, skiers, riders and resort guests,” explains Di Hiibner, Alyeska Resort VP & GM. “We had the option of closing the Tram for the rest of the ski season and simply repairing the cabin, but did not want our passholders to spend the ski season without it. The Tram is an important part of Alyeska, to skiers, riders and many other guests of the resort.”
Alyeska’s ski and snowboard season is scheduled to end on Apr. 28 and there will be no May skiing at the resort this year, but the tram will once again be taken offline on Apr. 21 to enable installation of the repaired second passenger cabin. Full service is expected to be restored in time for the lift’s summer sightseeing season.