Proposals to build a tram and a new hotel near the site of the event were never realized. Five Northwest skiers were sent to Europe on the U. Paradise Inn was substantially upgraded and improved for the winter of A new kitchen wing was constructed and steam heat was installed in the lobby, dining room, and fountain room; halls were enclosed, a false ceiling was installed in the lobby, and windows in the dining room and lobby were shuttered to conserve heat; the first floor recreation room was converted to a ski room with storage lockers and a ski-waxing room; and an emergency auxiliary power plant was installed in case winter storms damaged the power lines to the inn.
The Seattle Junior Chamber of Commerce began holding Spring Ski Carnivals at Paradise Valley in , and in started lobbying for the installation of permanent ski lifts there. That year, a one-lane road was kept open from Narada Falls, just beyond Longmire, to Paradise, and a company shuttle bus took visitors from the falls to Paradise.
In the winter of , noted Austrian ski instructor Otto Lang started the first Hannes Schneider Ski School in the country on Mount Rainier, bringing the latest ski techniques from Europe to the Northwest. There were no ski lifts so skiers had to hike up the hills before they could ski down. Mount Rainier National Park officials had long debated whether skiing was an appropriate activity in a national park.
In , Ski Lifts, Inc. The company obtained a permit to install two rope tows in Paradise Valley, which pulled skiers 1, horizontal feet and vertical feet up from the Guide House to the saddle on Alta Vista. All evidence of the lifts had to be removed in the spring. Rental rooms were available by the day or for the season and floodlights were provided for night skiing. The inaugural opening of the rope tows resulted in a record crowd of 2, skiers at Paradise on December 5, , "the greatest early season skiing crowd that ever jammed a highway, packed a ski slope, or did a sitzmark" "Record Ski Crowd A growing interest in getting a permanent ski lift installed in Mount Rainier National Park was resisted by park service officials, according to an administrative history of the park:.
In the early s, park officials adopted a more favorable attitude toward commercial development and winter sports. In , private vehicles were allowed to travel to Paradise in the winter, and in , the Ski Lodge, a large dormitory, was completed.
Also in, Ski Lifts, Inc. This was a patented ski lift designed by Ernest Constam, a Swiss engineer. Its manager, Paul Sceva, said "the Company will not spend another dollar in winter operations" "Linda Helleson Sceva also resigned as a director of Ski Lifts, Inc. In August , a Seattle Times writer criticized the failure to achieve installation of "a mile-long, Constam lift at Paradise," asserting:.
It's now too late, most parties agree" "The Timer No overnight accommodations would be allowed, so skiers would have to stay outside the park. No permanent ski tows could be erected, but portable tows could operate so long as they were removed in the spring.
No winter ski carnivals or any other events that would attract large crowds of people would be allowed. In the fall of , the Pacific Northwest Ski Association asked the Department of the Interior to reopen national parks to competitive skiing. We'll fight to the last ditch to get Paradise open" "Competitive Skiing Banned The National Ski Association joined with other organizations to protest the policy. There was some good news for skiers. Washington Governor Monrad Wallgren announced that the road to Paradise would remain open during the winter, as the State Highway Department would cooperate with the National Park Service: "Skiing In March , the road above Longmire was reopened and the foot rope tow was put back in operation for spring skiing.
The National Park Service policy was slightly modified in March , to allow competitive events in parks. The Junior Chamber of Commerce revived its Spring Ski Carnival at Paradise in April , to include "four-way competition for star runners, comedy and obstacles races and the traditional selection of a ski queen" "Spring Ski Carnival In the winters of and , the RNPC offered no overnight accommodations, only cafeteria service, and still lost money.
Overnight accommodations were available at Longmire. Washington members of the U. Olympic Ski Team for the games at St. Moritz, Switzerland, lobbied for a tram to be built on Mount Rainier like those in Switzerland.
Don Amick from Seattle pointed to the funicular at Davos, which in 20 minutes took skiers to the top of the mountain, where there was a wide choice of downhill runs: "People interested in Mount Rainier should see Davos to realize that a funicular doesn't have to mar the landscape A sports railway to Muir would be a gold mine for skiers, but also in summer for hikers and sight-seers.
But Mount Rainier only has rope tows" "Seattle Skiers Imagine stepping into a cabin the moment you arrive at the Alaska Junction SkyLink station one of 6 stations , then gliding over tree tops and traffic for a scenic 14 minute ride to the SODO Link Light Rail station. Or stay on the gondola for 3 more minutes and arrive at the International District Transit Hub. There, you can catch Link for a quick ride downtown, a 13 minute ride to University of Washington, or a minute ride to Bellevue or Redmond.
Other options from the ID hub: take a bus or street car, or walk to King Street Station, Pioneer and Occidental Squares, or restaurants, sports and event venues. SkyLink is an urban gondola we propose as an alternative to the expensive, intrusive light rail system that Sound Transit is planning for West Seattle.
More often than not — for the vast majority of riders — a transfer to a train or a gondola will simply add time and inconvenience. West Seattle is a classic example of an area that is better suited for BRT. It has an existing, very expensive, very fast infrastructure for buses not only the bridge, but the SoDo busway. Improving it would not be especially expensive. There is a barely anything approaching Northgate which at least has a college and a bunch of clinics near by. You have mid-level destinations, all spread out over the peninsula: Alki, Admiral Junction, Alaska Junction, High Point, South Seattle College, only one of which will be served by light rail or a gondola.
There is nothing of note between West Seattle and downtown — you lose nothing with an express. BRT is clearly the best option. So forcing riders to transfer from a larger, lower frequency vehicle to a smaller, higher frequency vehicle in West Seattle is an outrage, but doing the exact same thing in Westlake with your vaunted 2nd bus tunnel is a non-issue? Add in two other factors: 1. The WS bridge is literally falling apart, and 2. If you are passionate about replacing Link with BRT, you should be advocating for Link to end at Smith Cove, as there will still be a trunk and branch nexus at Smith Cove.
Send the D down Western and on a busway through Belltown, which would balance well with SLU alignment of the 2nd rail tunnel. No need for a 2nd bus tunnel zero people are interesting in paying for, and you can still screw over all of the 40 and 44 riders who would benefit from Ballard Link but not from a 2nd bus tunnel; win-win in your book, right? What are you talking about? The bus tunnel would go downtown, where the vast majority of folks are headed. A typical train would have a relatively small number of people transferring.
In contrast, just about every rider on the bus is going to transfer to the gondola, and that is true for every bus in West Seattle that used to go over the bridge C, 21, 37, 56, 57, , , , along with other buses that serve as feeders. Again, you are comparing a bad solution to one that is worse.
But one of the key advantages of the gondola is the high frequency. Unfortunately, the limited capacity kills that advantage for folks who transfer, which especially hurts those in Delridge.
At the one point in the day when the gondola has a fighting chance of being faster than a bus without doing anything beyond what exists today , riders will like have to wait a long time just to get on the thing. More than anything, it is still a transfer, with absolutely no benefit. The 2nd bus tunnel would have all the same stops. That means that instead of someone having to transfer in Ballard, they would just stay on the bus, and it would go to the same places.
San Diego was also looking at Aerial Cableway technology. West Seattle should still be part of the Link network, especially thinking about future southward expansion. Oh come on. West Seattle Link is a joke. There is no way it should have been built before a Metro 8 or Metro 44 subway. It is crazy that low density areas in West Seattle get transit before high density areas like First Hill. It is crazier to think that the West Seattle line will ever be extended.
Sound Transit had looked at that alignment as part of their long range planning B4 alignment and proposed that line to extend to Renton. Yeah, sure. But the main goal of any mass transit system is to have a massive amount of ridership.
You would get terrible ridership, and it would be an enormous waste of money. To be clear, it makes as much sense as extending West Seattle Link another ridiculous idea. If you are going to spend billions on a metro, then you need to go to places that have density and proximity. That is the only way you get the ridership to justify the money. For the amount of money to build a poorly performing metro to those areas, you could run buses every five minutes there, and to most of the city, in perpetuity.
I agree that ridership is mandatory. ST had proposed to run that line all the way to Renton. There is a lot more opportunity for growth in that part of town than others. Currently a lot of people travel from there through WS, by the time the gondola reaches its limit, I bet it would make more sense to serve it more directly than a detour through West Seattle.
Although I have a fear of heights, I was completely comfortable in the Medellin gondola car, Plus in the loading area I witnessed people and groups choosing to wait for another car without disruption. Are you saying light rail frequencies are false? I agree. That is what is sad about the light rail plans. As you go farther north, it makes less and less sense. But West Seattle Link is so weak — so lacking in value — that a gondola without any major geographic advantage is just as good.
This is not an especially strong route for a gondola far from it. You are running from a glorified suburb to downtown, following the same basic path as a huge freeway system. At noon, a bus would be faster than both the gondola and Link, for the vast majority of trips. In the evening, a bus is faster both directions. Have you looked at the current ST designs?
Let me know if I can take you on a walking tour. ST is planning a ft high guiderail to make it up the Junction as it is very steep. Yes, at night you might be able to take a bus, but before covid traffic was a mess at all times a day and always unpredictable whether there would be delay or you get lucky. I mean a geographic advantage over a bus. It is a lot like ferries.
You can drive from Bainbridge Island to Seattle, but it takes a very long time. So the ferry — while not especially fast — will save you a lot of time. Gondolas are slow, so they need a similar physical advantage.
I can think of a few places where a gondola has a big enough advantage, and the distance is relatively short across Lake Union, for example but few of those places have the demand necessary to pan out. That is one of the few places where a gondola could make sense it is short, the buses are slow, and there is a huge amount of demand.
It is over three miles from Alaska Junction to SoDo, which is a long ways. It is also in the middle of nowhere. It means the people have to transfer to a train anyway, or stay on the gondola until it gets to I.
The buses, by and large, are very fast. Imagine it is noon, and you are on the headed downtown. You reach the station, very close to the freeway. Do you get off, and catch the gondola? No, of course not. The bus will be downtown way before the gondola would. And it would go to more places downtown not just I. Would anyone else get off and catch the gondola? Maybe, but hardly anyone. The other stops are minor. The only time it would make sense to take the gondola is if you can walk to it, or it is rush hour.
Guess what?
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