Our Story

The 10th Mountain Division contracted the engineering company Mr. Heron worked for to design a portable tramway for use in Italy and Germany. The task was assigned to Mr. Heron. A book entitled "The Tramway Builders", by Philip A. Lunday and Charles M. Hampton gives the history about these tramways and the men who built them.

After the war, Mr. Heron traveled to Europe to study tramways and became more fascinated with their design and capabilities. Because of the steep terrain, many trams in Europe do not require any towers to support the wire ropes. The entire length is a free span between the bottom and top stations.

The Estes Park Aerial Tramway utilizes this free span design, which is fairly uncommon in the United States and affords a very smooth ride. The single span stretches 2,630 feet with a vertical rise of 1,060 feet. Mr. Heron also became one of the pioneering chair lift builders for the United States ski industry and built the first double chair lift in this country.

The Heron Engineering Company purchased 240 acres on Prospect Mountain for the project, with the lower terminal located on land owned by the Crags Lodge. Construction began on April 1, 1955, with an estimated cost of $150,000. The tramway was designed with two gondola cars, each capable of carrying 12 passengers, providing an hourly capacity of 240 riders.