Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway that hauls visitors up and down 10,786-foot Mt. San Jacinto was shut down Friday after inspectors detected a problem with one of the tram's cables. The popular attraction will stay closed to the public at least until early next week, when experts from Switzerland are expected to arrive to study the cable, said spokeswoman Linda Vivian. Workers "saw something they didn't like" during a routine inspection Friday morning, Vivian said.

The Palm Springs Aerial Tram will begin selling its summer pass on Monday -- for $50 to celebrate 50 years of carrying visitors to the cliffs of Chino Canyon. Pass holders receive unlimited tram rides through Aug. 9, along with 10% off guests' tickets and a 10% discount at Peaks Restaurant and Pines Café at the Mountain Station. Passes can be purchased online or at the Tramway's Valley Station. The Mountain Station also offers spectacular views, a natural exhibit area and two documentary films about the tramway, along with access to 54 miles of hiking trails within Mt. San Jacinto State Park.  The tram opened on Sept.

THE trip to the top of Mt. San Jacinto is as easy as hopping into a gondola via the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and soaring one vertical mile above granite escarpments, lodgepole pines and waterfalls spilling into gorges choked with wild grapevines. It's a slice of the Sierra and prelude to a challenging hiking path with a controversial future.

A Danish man who became lost while hiking in the San Jacinto Mountains was found Monday, officials said. Hans Ebbenscaard, 38, was in fair condition after being found about 11:30 a.m. near Tahquitz Canyon, said Sgt. Earl Quinata, Riverside County sheriff's spokesman. Ebbenscaard was taken to a hospital. Authorities began searching Sunday after learning that Ebbenscaard's rental car had sat several days in the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway parking lot.

The reopening of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which takes riders from the California resort up the side of Mt. San Jacinto, has been postponed from this weekend to Sept. 1, a spokesman said last week. He said the postponement was caused by delays in the state inspection process for the tramway after its installation of new cars.

I can't believe I conquered Skyline (8,000 feet of gain in 12 miles from the desert floor in Palm Springs to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway station). There was a great deal of snow and, in parts, ice on the trail. I lost my footing several times crossing one chute. I was scared, big-time scared. But I'm ready to do it again. Rob Madrigal Rialto

A Danish man who became lost while hiking in the San Jacinto Mountains was found Monday, officials said. Hans Ebbenscaard, 38, was in fair condition after being found about 11:30 a.m. near Tahquitz Canyon, said Sgt. Earl Quinata, Riverside County sheriff's spokesman. Ebbenscaard was taken to a hospital. Authorities began searching Sunday after learning that Ebbenscaard's rental car had sat several days in the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway parking lot.

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which takes riders from the California desert resort up the side of Mt. San Jacinto, is to reopen Saturday with new cars that offer a rotating panorama of the Coachella Valley and beyond. The tramway had been closed since June while the Swiss-made cars were installed. Despite the project's $12-million price tag, round-trip rides will cost the same as before the closure, a spokesman said: $19.95 adults, $12.50 ages 3 to 12. Reservations are not necessary.

Firefighters on Friday gained control of a blaze that scorched 100 acres of brush near the Palm Springs aerial tramway. No injuries were reported. The tramway, a popular tourist destination, reopened shortly before 4 p.m. after Southern California Edison workers restored downed power lines, said Palm Springs Police Sgt. Dan Rose. The tramway was not damaged and neither were any structures. Firefighters believe the blaze was sparked by an illegal campfire. The blaze started about 8:30 p.m.

A small plane with four people aboard crashed near Palm Springs, but its occupants escaped serious injury and one hiked down a mountainside to get help, authorities said. The pilot of the single-engine 46-Taylor aircraft had just taken off on a flight to Santa Barbara when the plane slammed into the side of Mt. San Jacinto at the 5,000-foot level, near the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Palm Springs police said.

Regarding "Wilderness Express" [Oct. 11]: As a proponent of wilderness conservation and the wife of a disabled spouse, I have a dual perspective on the proposed people mover from the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to Long Valley on Mt. San Jacinto. Yes, easy access to wilderness does degrade it, but Long Valley is already accessible to those who can walk. Admitting the disabled will not harm anything or anyone. JEAN E. ROSENFELD Pacific Palisades As one of those overweight San Jacinto Mountain visitors with aging knees and backs, I can't wait for the people mover to become real.

THE trip to the top of Mt. San Jacinto is as easy as hopping into a gondola via the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and soaring one vertical mile above granite escarpments, lodgepole pines and waterfalls spilling into gorges choked with wild grapevines. It's a slice of the Sierra and prelude to a challenging hiking path with a controversial future.

I can't believe I conquered Skyline (8,000 feet of gain in 12 miles from the desert floor in Palm Springs to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway station). There was a great deal of snow and, in parts, ice on the trail. I lost my footing several times crossing one chute. I was scared, big-time scared. But I'm ready to do it again. Rob Madrigal Rialto

Operators of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway tried to find a helicopter to lift a mechanic up Mt. San Jacinto when two tram cars carrying 53 people became stuck, but no private, government or military helicopter could be obtained, the tram's president said. Tram officials said Thursday that they were looking to develop closer ties with local police or military bases in case of a similar emergency, although they said that was highly unlikely.

Two tram cars carrying a total of 53 people hung motionless above the slopes of towering Mount San Jacinto for 4 1/2 hours Monday after a cable tangled and abruptly stopped the ride. A car operator in one of the gondolas was credited with saving the day when he crawled onto the roof and used a knife-like tool to slash a tangled strand of the cable, finally setting the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway back in motion at about 7 p.m.

Two hikers were rescued Tuesday morning after they became lost near the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and spent the night in the wilderness. The unidentified men, both 38, went hiking Monday afternoon and after a few hours got lost, said Deputy John Kaiser of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. One had a cellular phone and about 7:45 p.m. called the Palm Springs Police Department, which contacted the Sheriff's Department, Kaiser said.

A Costa Mesa woman has sued the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and the state for $5 million, claiming that a fall from a viewing area damaged her brain. An attorney for Cheryl McKendry, 24, said his client now has the mental capacity of a 5-year-old and cannot care for herself. McKendry and a companion, Michael Thomas Leib, of Marina del Rey had taken the tram up from Palm Springs to Mt. San Jacinto Park where they fell asleep near a viewing area.

One of the most stunning views afforded by the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is from the rocky canyon floor, looking up. The cables appear impossibly long and thread-like. They begin at a sharp angle and become ever-steeper as they span skeletal towers to the towering canyon rim, where the walls are all but cliffs. By then, the tram cars have gained more than a mile in elevation--and are still climbing at an angle that looks almost vertical. "We're going up that?" Marion Rodgers exclaimed to her husband, Calvin, as they stepped from their rental car and saw the tramway for the first time.

Deer and raccoon had left their tracks on a cushion of freshly fallen powder, and we kept an eye out for the larger prints of a mountain lion or bear. Beneath the burly branches of lodgepole pine and clusters of white fir, our breath rose in puffs of steam cut by beams of sunlight. Snow crunched beneath our feet, and only the distant voices of hikers disturbed the forest silence. It was hard to believe that this winter wilderness was only a 14-minute ride from the desert below.