Where: Snowbird Resort up Little Cottonwood Canyon
Elevation change: all downhill! Nothing too steep, hiking down switchbacks.
Hiking time: 30-45 minutes
Distance: 0.5 miles
*Cost involved to ride tram- see below
UPDATE: Snowbird has changed their policy on riding the Peruvian chair lifts back down. You now have to be 42 inches or taller to ride the lifts down the mountain. Otherwise, you have to take the tram back down.
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More info: Aerial Tram Rides
If you've never been on the Snowbird tram, you need to go! It's pretty amazing. I had only been on it once in elementary school about 20 years ago and thought it might be fun to do it again, this time with my kids.
The tram isn't exactly cheap. It's $17 for an adult. But luckily, kids 6 and under are free. Coupons are available sometimes if you Google "Snowbird tram coupon" but the ones I found were for an all-day activities pass which I wasn't interested in. However, if you are going as a family, they have a pretty good deal ($66) for 2 adults and 4 kids that saves you some money.
*Snowbird usually has a free-ride day in October with a donation of canned food, so if this is too pricey for you to do in the Summer, wait until Fall and go for free!
We love walking through the 600 foot tunnel through the mountain to get to the other side. The tunnel has picture and artifacts about the history of Snowbird.
Even babies like the view.
Once at the top, the temperature is considerably cooler so make sure you bring jackets! My breath was literally taken away by the views from the top. It was astonishing to see how high we were! The top of the tram is 11,000 feet in elevation.
I truly felt like I was on top of the world! It was so neat to see all the surrounding mountain peaks.
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We went right during Abby's nap time so predictably she fell asleep as soon as I put her in the pack. Her poor head just bobbed as we walked.
Our plan was to ride the tram up to the top, then hike down a short trail to the Peruvian chair lifts and take the chair lifts back down. This was the only "hike" suitable for Eliza so it was perfect.
Grandpa brought his GoPro so we put it on Eliza and let her walk around for a minute so we could see the hike from her point of view.
The wildflowers were amazing. They were in full bloom with tons of vibrant colors. These pictures don't do them justice.
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The peak in the left center of the picture above is called Pfeifferhorn ("Little Matterhorn".) I did that hike several years ago. It's the fifth highest peak in the Wasatch range.
There's a close up of Pfeifferhorn peak.
After walking down a trail of switchbacks for about 30 minutes we made it to the Peruvian chair lifts. It was really cool because you enter a tunnel and walk through a long tunnel to get to the chair lift.
The tunnel was lit and had lots of memorabilia about Snowbird Resort. The picture below shows troops in 1943 practicing skiing in preparation of being deployed to Germany.
We made it through the tunnel!
UPDATE: Snowbird has changed their policy on riding the Peruvian chair lifts back down. You now have to be 42 inches or taller to ride the lifts down the mountain. Otherwise, you have to take the tram back down.
Personally, I'm okay with this policy change because I was always super nervous riding down the chair lift with my baby in arms and a squirmy toddler. So if you have kids who are shorter than 42 inches, you'll need to walk back up to take the tram down, which isn't a big deal, it will require a little more effort on your part though. Or if you have another adult with you, you could always split up and the smaller kids go back down on the tram while an adult takes the older kids down on the chair lifts.
The chair lift ride down took about 10 minutes.
This one fell asleep on the way home. I think that's a pretty good sign that she had a fun time and exhausted herself!