{"id":899,"date":"2007-03-16T12:08:56","date_gmt":"2007-03-16T12:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/?p=899"},"modified":"2007-03-16T12:08:56","modified_gmt":"2007-03-16T12:08:56","slug":"bridal_veil_tram_coming_back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/2007\/03\/16\/bridal_veil_tram_coming_back\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridal Veil Tram Coming Back!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Usually when I write on this blog about some local landmark, it’s to mourn that object’s seemingly inevitable passing. Happily, this is the opposite case: it appears that a landmark that was lost — the tram that used to soar high over Bridal Veil Falls — may be rebuilt<\/a> within the next year or so.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For any out-of-towners who may be reading, Bridal Veil Falls is one of the prettiest natural features in the northern part of Utah. Located about halfway up Provo Canyon, it’s a waterfall (as you no doubt surmised from the name) that cascades over a very tall cliff face; the water spreads horizontally across the rocks during its drop and creates a great deal of mist, suggesting the diaphonous appearance of its namesake. There’s a photo of Bridal Veil here<\/a>; to get a proper sense of scale, look for the hikers near the bottom of the image.<\/p>\n

Up until just a few years ago, there was a small aerial tram<\/a> at the site that would whisk tourists from the base of the falls to a restaurant at the top of the cliff. I remember hearing radio ads for Saturday-night dances there when I was in middle school, and thinking it would be an awesome place to snuggle up with someone and try to fall in love; unfortunately, the dances were no longer being held by the time I got old enough to actually go to one. I did ride the tram once, however, and while I don’t know if it really was “The World’s Steepest,” as its owners claimed, it was definitely a vertigo-inducing experience. The cable car rose more quickly than it appeared to from the ground, and at about a 70-degree angle, so you felt as if you were rising almost<\/i> straight up at a breakneck speed. You also felt as if the cables were going to bring you dangerously close to the falls themselves, although I suspect that was just a trick of perspective.<\/p>\n

The tram was destroyed by an avalance in 1996. I didn’t think much of it when the disaster first happened, because I just assumed the owners would rebuild. But as the first year after the avalance became two, and then eventually five, I came to think it was pretty unlikely that it would ever happen. I usually drive up that canyon several times every summer, and seeing the crushed ruins of the old wheelhouse and snack bar looking a little more dilapidated and weathered each year has been like watching a time-lapse photo montage of a decomposing corpse.<\/p>\n

But now the family that owns the property — and the remains of the old tram — have unexpectedly resurfaced. They’re asking for financial help to fulfill a vision of opening a new tramway by 2008, complete with concessions, a gift shop, and access to hiking trails at the top of the line.<\/p>\n

I hope they get their money. If the resurrected tram is successful, maybe they’ll even start hosting dances at the top again…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Usually when I write on this blog about some local landmark, it’s to mourn that object’s seemingly inevitable passing. Happily, this is the opposite case: it appears that a landmark that was lost — the tram that used to soar high over Bridal Veil Falls — may be rebuilt within the next year or so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-color"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}