Silver Queen Gondola reopened Friday

News News | Feb 3, 2023

UPDATE: The Silver Queen Gondola is running normally today, Feb. 3, after Thursday's disruption.

Original story:

The Silver Queen Gondola at the bottom of Aspen Mountain was "offline" all day Thursday, and possibly Friday, according to Aspen Skiing Co. Vice President of Communications Jeff Hanle.

The gondola never opened Thursday morning, and skiers and riders were directed to use the Little Nell and Bell Mountain chairs to get access to the upper mountain.

According to Hanle, the gondola was closed for mechanical issues, and the Aspen Mountain lift maintenance team worked to to diagnose the issue. The issue turned out to be with the gearbox in the top gondola terminal, a Skico press release in the late afternoon stated.

"A team from Leitner Poma was dispatched to Aspen with parts and will work with the Aspen Mountain maintenance crew through the night," the release said.

If additional parts or work is required that would extend the closure of the gondola, a statement will be released early Friday morning, Hanle said.

In the event of an extended closure, the Little Nell and Bell Mountain chairs will operate as they did Thursday to provide upper-mountain access from the east side of Aspen Mountain. The Shadow Mountain lift and Ruthies lift can also provide upper-mountain access to skiers and riders.

Although there's no way to know for sure, Hanle said, Thursday's skier numbers were in line with what they expected and did not look like many people changed mountains due to the gondola closure.

Skiers and riders should check the Aspen Snowmass App, website, and snow report for updates, the release stated.

"The current weather forecast for tomorrow would indicate it would be an excellent day to ride chairlifts and work on your goggle tan," Hanle said.

Aspen Snowmass did not announce the gondola closure on its website or in public alerts Thursday, and the shutdown did not appear to be widely known, though the website's lift-status section for Aspen Mountain showed the gondola marked as on hold.

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