Crystal Mountain Gondolas

On our recent trip to Washington to visit the boys, Bryan took Jennie and me to Crystal Mountain.  There is a ski resort there with a gondola ride that takes you to the top of the mountain.  On a clear day, there's a great view of Mt. Rainier.

We got our tickets, hopped on one of the gondolas and headed up the mountain.

After we had ridden a few thousand feet up the mountain and were several hundred feet in the air, I got to wondering...

"Where is the BIG RED BUTTON you push to summon the Mountain Rescue Team with the helicopters and the St. Bernards?"

"Where are the parachutes, if we have to bail out of this thing?"

"Is there a rope ladder or something we can climb down?"

As usual, my stomach wouldn't be ignored for long. "Where is the Seven Day Supply of Emergency Food Rations if we get stranded up here?"

A quick examination of the interior of the gondola revealed none of those things.  There was a sign on one wall.  It gave a phone number to call "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY".  Not very comforting.  It didn't help that the sign continued, "If no answer: call 911."  

There was some more gibberish about car numbers and tower numbers and the sign ended with "...climbers left side."  CLIMBER?  Who's climbing? I'm not climbing up or down or out of anything here.

White knuckles were displayed for much of the ride.  Holly was the only one who wasn't nervous.

We eventually reached the top of the mountain and set foot on solid ground again.

The views from the top of the mountain were pretty amazing.  We even got an almost clear shot of Mt Rainier while we were up there.

We hiked around the top of the mountain enjoying the scenery for a while before the realization struck me, the only way back down the mountain was to climb in that gondola death-trap again.

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The photos above and many more of our trip to Washington can be viewed in a Google Photos Album at Washington Trip 2019.