We took a ride on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway — the largest rotating aerial tramway in the world.
Approaching Mount Jacinto in our truck:
The road up the foothills of Mount Jacinto:
The valley station, the base of the tramway:
The boarding area, where we wait for our tram. We had booked tickets for that afternoon, but decided to go earlier. Being mid-week, they weren’t too busy, so we didn’t have to wait long:
A tram arriving:
In the tram:
Jenn taking photos:
A feature of the tram is rotation, so everyone can get good views. The whole tram doesn’t rotate, just the floor, like a revolving restaurant like the Space Needle in Seattle or the Sky Tower in Auckland:
Looking downhill on our way up:
There are a few support towers; as the car passes each tower, it rocks a bit:
The second tram on its way down; they are always offset, so when one is at the top, the other is at the bottom:
View:
There’s about a 30°F temperature difference between the valley floor and mountain top. We reached the snow level:
Inside the tram; masks required:
Arriving at the mountain station:
A nifty feature is water delivery; all the water for the mountain station is delivered via tanks under the tram cars, and dumped at the top on each trip:
The mountain arrival area:
Before boarding, they had everyone stop to take a couple of pictures in front of a green-screen. Something I’ve resisted in the past, but we’ve been embracing recently. So we stopped at the photos kiosk to check out our pics:
We bought digital copies of our green-screen photos; cheesy, but kinda fun:
We had a reservation at the Peaks Restaurant for lunch:
Jenn:
A tasty lunch:
After lunch, we went out onto the viewing balcony, and took some pictures of the mountain and valley views:
The viewing deck outside the restaurant:
Snow:
Valley views of Palm Springs:
I was amused by the wet floor sign that had fallen onto the snow below the deck; yep, it was indeed a very wet floor:
Selfie:
More views:
Jenn taking photos:
The interesting architecture of the building exterior:
A glimpse of a tram arriving:
Another selfie:
We were also amused by the Mount San Jacinto sign — “California State Parks, Mount San Jacinto State Park, a California State Park”. Obviously written by the Department of Redundancy Department:
Trees and snow in the park behind the mountain station:
They have a window into the counterweight mechanism; a large steel and concrete counterweight that goes up and down as the trams travel across towers (read the sign for more info):
Back into the tram for the return journey:
Views on the way down:
The center of the tram; on the way up was an informational recording, but on the way down the operator played loud music from his iPhone hooked into the PA system:
A nice view of one of the towers (with a small helipad on top for maintenance):
Another tower:
Approaching the valley station:
A small museum in the valley station:
Watching a tram depart:
That was a fun experience, and enjoyable lunch. Highly recommended for people visiting Palm Springs.
