13 From Peak to Peak and Down

We took a gondola to one peak, a chair lift to the highest point, then rode the Peak to Peak gondola.

1. The gondolas that run from peak to peak are about twice as big as the gondola we took up the hill. The towers holding them are even bigger.

2. Much bigger.

3. The views were fantastic. Unluckily, we were on the sun-ward side, and the glare made it nearly impossible to get a really good picture. This was my best shot.

4. We landed in another building megaplex. Restrooms, restaurants, etc. There’s a nice little promenade that we followed around the crest of the hill.

5. They even have a helicopter handy.

6. It was about this point that my mother decided she didn’t want to take the Peak to Peak back and retrace our steps. So we started looking for an alternative route. These handy signs telling you which lifts were running had been at every stop, but I hadn’t looked close enough to realize they could be handy. We caught a chairlift down.

7. There are jeep rides available as a tour. We skipped it. Too much like normal for us.

8. At one point you have to get off the lift, run around and catch another. It felt silly, but there it is.

9. I’d never seen one of these before. Wish I could have looked inside.

10. See the green thing on a pole? Gondola. It really brought home how low this chairlift hung. Especially after how high all the others had been. The chair we sat in didn’t have the bubble front, but most of them did. I’m guessing they have some nasty winds there in the winter.

11. We’d been passing buildings for a while before coming to the end. The lifts really do begin in the city.

12. Yep. End of the line. Only problem was that it dumped us out in a part of the city we’d never seen before. We had no idea where we were or how to get back to our car.

13. It turned out to be a rather pleasant walk of about a mile. The bicycle repair shop owner seemed to think it was a trivial distance. The able-bodied really have no idea what it’s like to be hobbling around in a strange place, or just how big a parking lot can seem.

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