The plight of the old Jupiter chairlift

On Wednesday, my wife and I managed to climb to the top of Jupiter Chair, at Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR). The weather was just perfect, Indian-summer like, and as I was observing the old, fixed-grip chairlift, it suddenly started to move.

For some reason, someone, at the lower station was getting it going. The noise was creaky, almost plaintive. I wanted to shoot the scene, but failed to set my phone on “movie” and shot a series of still pictures instead. At about the same time, the grinding sound from the old lift turned into a voice that lamented:

“I'm old and tired and have been slaving on this mountain since 1981. After 30 years, I hoped that PCMR would let me retire and perhaps send me to South America or to Kazakhstan for some part-time gig, but it never happened. Today, I suffer from old-lift arthritis, my wheels are squeaking, my cable is beginning to fray, and all my seats are hardening. Besides, I'm getting slow, much slower than in the past (it must be the altitude) and my paint continues to peel. Please, get me out of here!”

I heard this on September 10. The next day, PCMR had sold the lift as part of the rest of the resort to Vail Resorts and hopefully, next year, the Jupiter Chair will enjoy full retirement as the new owner is not so much into “antiques”. That's right, even Kazakhstan only buys used high-speed quads these days...