Over the past dozen years, the notion that a gondola could connect the varied and untrammeled terrain between what is now Palisades Tahoe and Alpine Meadows — two storied and beloved ski resorts in North Lake Tahoe — seemed as ridiculous as it was expensive, impractical and, to most who call the region home, unnecessary.
The $65 million base-to-base gondola is nearly here, slated to open Dec. 17. Designed to move up to 1,400 people per hour, its 33 lift towers will carry riders 2.4 miles across the Sierra Nevada’s Pacific Crest.