Monorail at Attitash Mountain Resort
With competing areas featuring unique lifts (such as Cranmore's Skimobile, Wildcat's gondola, and Cannon's tramway), the new Attitash "red carpet" ski area was looking for a new and innovative form of uphill transportation to help open its upper mountain.
Plans were put together to build a heated cog monorail from the base lodge to near the present day ski area summit, a vertical increase of over 600 feet over the original 1965 development. The lift line was cut and a demonstration unit and 1,000 feet of track constructed adjacent to the base lodge.
The monorail was expected to be over 7,000 feet long, with a train-passing-siding about halfway up. Six heated four-car trains were proposed.
The installation of an upper mountain double chairlift in 1968 indicated a change in direction. At this point, the monorail proposal was still on the table, and was to be tied in with a massive housing development. The proposed monorail was increased to 4 miles in length and was to cross over Attitash, West Moat, and Rogers Mountain.
The proposal was eventually deemed impractical.
The 1960s demonstration monorail
The narrow monorail lift line cut (2010)
Last updated: June 26, 2014
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