Ajax will be open for business today
A freak incident is closing Aspen Mountain’s Silver Queen Gondola for the second day in a row, forcing skiers to take three lifts to the top of the mountain today.
Sometime Saturday night, high winds caused the gondola’s communications cable to wrap over the grip of a cabin. When crews started the gondola slowly at 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning to perform the usual preoperation procedures, a notification went off that something was faulty. A visual inspection then showed that the cabin was out of alignment on the tower wheels. It had gotten twisted due to the slowly moving gondola haul rope and stuck communication line. To complicate matters further, it derailed at its highest point, at tower 27, just after it passes the top of Bell Mountain over the Silver Dip ski run.
Crews are working to put a gondola car back on track today and assess the damage to the communications line. The gondola will remain closed today. The Little Nell, Bell and Ajax Express chairs will be open to take skiers and riders to the top of the mountain, and the Gent’s Ridge lift will also be running.
“We do not know how long it will take to return the gondola to operation at this time,” said a statement released by the Aspen Skiing Co. on Sunday. “Extreme wind, heavy snow and limited visibility continue to hamper the repair.”
The gondola was closed all day Sunday and ski patrollers, mountain staff and ambassadors had to break the bad news to those eager to ride after another 3 inches of snow was reported Sunday morning, bringing the three-day storm total to about 1 foot. The Little Nell chair was operating, for free, and appeared to maintain a steady business for most of the day. Many diehard locals took a token run to ensure they could tick the day off on their ski calendar, but others opted for multiple runs on the relatively gentle slope, which was only partially open due to scant snow coverage.
Aspen’s gondola cabins are usually stored in the upper terminal overnight, but were left out Saturday because of a private event at the Sundeck that finished late. The Sundeck, and the gondola to take people to it, are available for nighttime rental for a fee, and the gondola cars are not always taken in afterwards, said SkiCo spokesman Jeff Hanle. It depends on how late the downloading of passengers finishes, he said.
The SkiCo said that winds reached up to 75 miles per hour Saturday night.
“We knew the wind was coming in but we didn’t think it would be so bad,” said Hanle.
Heather Rousseau/Aspen Daily NewsThe Aspen Mountain gondola was closed all day on Sunday and will remain closed all day today. An incident with the cable caused by high winds
is taking some time to repair.
Because of the wind and snow, the gondola cables were iced up anyway, and it would have required some extra work to open regardless of the twisted cable.
“And [the gondola] would never have run anyway; it blew all day,” said Hanle.
Indeed, gusty winds hampered some World Cup racers and blew over a tower holding the finish line banner, causing a delay in the slalom race.
SkiCo officials said that the gondola has closed “multiple times” for a full day or longer in the past, although it’s rare and hasn’t happened in the last several seasons. High winds also hampered the planned opening of the Big Burn chair at Snowmass yesterday; it never ran.
Hanle warned not to get your hopes up if you see the gondola moving today, as it may be going through safety testing.
“In all likelihood it will not be open to the public,” he said.
Weather was also responsible for a total of five flight cancellations and numerous delays at the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport yesterday (out of 22), which was “not that bad,” said Bill Tomcich, local airline liaison and president of Stay Aspen Snowmass.
The first outbound Frontier flight Sunday morning was canceled because the plane had been unable to come in due to the storm Saturday night. And two United flights were canceled, in each direction, when the winds were at their height in the middle of the day, said Tomcich. Winds reached up to 39 miles per hour at the airport, he said.
Slick snowy roads were responsible for accidents and closures all around the state. There were multiple crashes in Garfield County early Sunday morning, including one near Silt where a driver slammed into the patrol cruiser of a trooper cleaning up previous accidents.
Interstate 25 between Fort Collins and Cheyenne was closed for about three hours Sunday morning as well, and chain laws were in effect for commercial vehicles at the Eisenhower Tunnel, Vail Pass and Berthoud Pass. Eastbound I-70 at Vail Pass and from Silverthorne to Eisenhower Tunnel was closed “due to adverse conditions and heavy traffic” on Sunday evening, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Web site.
The area is still under a winter storm warning and the National Weather Service predicted more snow overnight on Sunday and a slight chance of snow today. There should be a small break and then there’s more snow in the forecast beginning Tuesday.
Several Colorado resorts received a foot or more of snow from the storm.
lutz@aspendailynews.com
