Nothing lasts forever, especially a piece of equipment that operates year round in the harsh conditions that Mother Nature can create. The type of equipment I’m referring to is a ski tram.

After 40 years of service, and many replacement parts, the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort decided their tram was becoming obsolete. Their cables were getting close to being out of code, or unsafe. This meant one thing; North America’s tallest and most famous ski resort tramway would need to be replaced in its entirety. Documenting much of the entire effort is a DVD called, “Cable to the Sky”.

Cable to the Sky shows how complicated this process was from start to finish. Despite the paperwork effort of determining if a loan was possible, there were numerous other details to work out, starting with, who will be hired for the job?

After opening up the bidding process, JHMR decided to go with a company called Doppelmayr Garaventa. The next step was to have them design the new tram. Once a design was chosen, further details of determining what equipment would be necessary, would have to be worked out. There were many pieces to this puzzle.

Doppelmayr Garaventa was the main company involved in this process, and they sent a staff over from Europe for the installation process. Over 40 shipping containers full of equipment for the JHMR tram were shipped over from Switzerland. The four track cables alone were 10 miles long and weighed 328 tons.

The crew was amazing, working 12-14 hour days in very cold weather, snow, and less than ideal conditions at great heights to get the job done in time. It snowed 100 days during this process. Every tactic imaginable was used for the construction of this tram including; pump trucks, bulldozers, needle cranes, sky cranes, and even a helicopter. Even the old tram assisted with the effort, hauling tens of thousands of pounds of rock and sand in a bag underneath itself to deliver high on the mountain to be added to the new tower footings. It is an amazing feat to watch.

The idea of skiing or snowboarding conjures up excitement in many. And while we may initially think of the turns we make down the hill, let us not forget the mode of transportation that whisked us up the hill. This movie displays an impressive effort of human and technological skill working together to create a masterpiece in the sky. I highly recommend watching Cable to the Sky to appreciate all the hard work that happens so you can have fun!