Stacey’s SOLS: Gondola Ride in Vermont

My husband and I took a gondola ride up K1, which is in Killington, Vermont. I don’t ski, so this was about the highest I was ever going to get on any mountain during the wintertime.

We purchased our tickets from a woman who declared that we didn’t have much time.
“That’s okay,” I replied. “I still want to go.”
“You’re only going to have about 15 minutes to walk around once you get to the top,” she said.
“No problem,” I said as my husband handed her our payment.

We boarded the gondola, which was a glorified cable car. The windows were foggy, which meant we couldn’t see all that much as our gondola climbed hundreds upon hundreds of feet in the air with nothing more than a thick, black wire keeping us alive. Every so often, when we’d pass a tower, the gondola car rumbled back and forth creating a sound that would’ve scared someone afraid of heights, which I’m not.

The towers started coming closer and closer together, signaling to me that we were near the top. We peered out of the window to look for a Killington Employee to tell us what to do next, but we didn’t see anyone. Therefore, we disembarked from the gondola and started walking towards the skiers.

Suddenly, someone in a blue parka exited a wooden hut with a perplexed look on his face (probably because we didn’t have skis). “Are you taking the gondola back down?”
Um, yeah! Did he think we were going to stroll back down to the base?
“Yes, we are,” my husband replied politely.
“Well…” he said as he scrutinized his watch, “you only have,” he paused again, “six minutes up here before you have to head back down.”
We looked at each other and nodded our heads.
“Okay,” my husband and I replied in unison.

We descended down some icy steps and walked around where all of the skiers were standing around, preparing for their final descent of the day. We sure look out of place! We snapped a few pictures, admired the snow-covered trees, and then hustled to get back onto the gondola for fear we’d be trapped on the top of the mountain with no way to get down other than skiing (not an option for me!)

The gondola ride down the mountain seemed to go faster. Further, the windows were slightly clearer, giving us a better view. It was bucolic and extremely picturesque (hence the photos and video I shot). Something I was pleased to watch from the relative safety of this “cable car” in the sky.