The Wallowa Lake Tramway is an aerial cable gondola lift near Joseph, Oregon, in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest of the United States. The tram runs from the floor of the Wallowa Valley to the top of Mount Howard.[1] It travels to an elevation of 8,000 feet (2,400 m) above sea level and allows for views of the Eagle Cap Wilderness area and the rest of the Wallowa Mountains.[2]
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The tramway was built in 1968,[3] and then opened for service in 1970.[4] In June 1992, a malfunction caused the evacuation of the lifts passengers who were then flown by helicopter down the mountain, with no injuries reported.[5] This was the first safety incident for the tram.[4] Later that year, the tramway was used to haul fire fighters fighting a forest fire to the top of the mountain.[6] In 1999, tram owners explored expanding the tramway to include a winter resort.[7]
Twenty-five towers are used along the route to support the cables of tramway.[3] The Wallowa Lake Tramway rises 3700 vertical feet,[8] starting at the 4,200-foot (1,300 m) level of the lake.[9] At the top of the gondola ride, an elevation of 8,150 feet (2,480 m), sits Oregon’s highest restaurant, the Alpine Grill.[10] The Tramway runs May through September in summer[11] and on the weekends in winter for skiing and snowshoeing.[12] The four-person gondolas take fifteen minutes to make a one-way trip.[8][12] The tram is the steepest four-person gondola in North America, ending at the 8,256-foot (2,516 m) peak of Mount Howard.[13] The tram is operated on 115 acres (0.47 km2) of land leased from the Forest Service through a special permit since it is on national forest lands.[7] At the top of the mountain are wildlife[1] and wildflowers in an alpine meadow with views of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho along with two-miles (3 km) of hiking trails.[4]