Iconic vs. Effective

There are many things in this world that are called “iconic” but are woefully ineffective.

I'm talking today about ski lifts and returning to the topic of the good old “iconic” tram, following my recent ski trip to Jackson Hole.

Some see in it the best lift in North America, but it only can whisk 650 passengers per hour over the 4,139 feet vertical.

Well how does this compare with today's state of the art, namely the new 3S Gondola, with its two fixed, fully locked track ropes, plus a traveling carrier travels pulled by a circulating haul rope is clamped to the 8-wheel carriages?

Not so well anymore; this new detachable lift offers both performance and reliability with its 30+ passenger cabins that granted, take skiers a bit slower than the Jackson tram (8.5 m/s vs 10/m/s) but offer more than 2,000 passenger per hour capacity, in complete stability even in the most extreme wind conditions.

There are also many funicular designs that might be environmentally more suited and these, too, can carry loads of passenger up the hill at a rate of 2,000 per hour, thus averting the 20th century lift lines that seem to be a daily occurrence at the Jackson tram...