New Hampshire Bids Adieu To A Cannon Mountain Staple
The most iconic sight in New Hampshire’s White Mountains National Forest since the Old Man in the Mountain, has given its last ride.
The Cannon Mountain tram is now retired after 45 years of service. The third generation tram system will be designed and built in the upcoming years.
“She’s aged gracefully, but like all legends, she deserves a dignified retirement,” said Jace Wirth, General Manager of Cannon Mountain and Franconia Notch State Park in a press release. “It’s time to begin writing the next chapter.”
The tram was powered by a 600 horsepower electric motor at the base, and brought 70 people and their gear 2.3 miles from near Echo Lake to the Cannon Mountain peak.
The tram only ran during weekends and holidays during the winter, but ran daily in the summertime. Those summertime rides were a vital source of income during the summer months. It ran every 15 minutes back and forth.
Riders will still be able to reach the summit of Cannon Mountain without the tram. They will just have to rely on the Cannonball Quad chairlift to do so.
Back in 2021, David Brooks of the Concord Monitor wrote that the only instruction manual is written entirely in Italian. That meant when things broke down, maintenance team members would have to break out the handy-dandy Italian to English dictionary, or at least use the app on their iPhone.
Cannon launched the first aerial tramway in the United States back in 1938. The current tram has carried passengers to the summit since 1980. It travels a mile in less than seven minutes.
When Cannon originally installed the tram in the 1930s, it helped pave the way for ski tourism in the Granite State. Cannon’s summit is the highest in New Hampshire, at 4,080 feet. It boasts the steepest vertical drop at 2,180 feet.
