Scenic tram may be reborn

PROVO — Sightseers could soon be taking trips back to the top of Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon if Utah County officials agree to support a plan to resurrect the area's old scenic tram.

The Grow family, which has owned Bridal Veil Falls since the early 1970s, approached the Utah County Commission on Tuesday with the idea of rebuilding a tram and resort for the falls. But before the Grows can get the project off the ground and get approval, they need to get some money.

Their plan is to ask the County Commission to sponsor a $3.2 million industrial revenue bond that would not tax the interest earned by the bond and would not hold the county financially responsible for paying off the bond. Then, if the county approves the process, the Grows will approach developers and investors — anyone who would be willing to help financially and ask them to buy the bonds and pay off the debt.

"If we can find anybody, anywhere that will buy (the bonds), I think that will solve our finance problem," said Wyatt Grow, who is working with his father, Dave, to get the project approved. "Frankly, I just enjoy the experience that you can only have at Bridal Veil so much that it would be a success in my mind if (the tram) can pay for itself and stay open."

According to Grow, when his family operated the Bridal Veil tram from 1974 until 1996, the attraction usually broke even and occasionally made a profit. It was so well-visited that tourists would sometimes wait two or more hours just to take the ride.

The popular business — known at the time as "the world's steepest tram" — was shut down in 1996 when an avalanche destroyed the cable equipment, concessions stand and wheel house where passengers boarded the tram.

The avalanche was a disaster, but Dave Grow says the result was also a blessing in disguise for the aging tram, which was originally built in 1960.

"In many ways the avalanche did us a favor because it said, 'Guess what? This is history. Kaboom,"' Dave Grow said. "So, now we're excited that it can be re-envisioned today with all of the updates of modern technology."

Since the avalanche, the only reminders of the former tram are some cables, a boarded-over concrete block and a metal building jutting out of the hillside.

Although travelers have continued to ask over the years about the tram and how to take a ride on it, according to Joel Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitor's Bureau president, the Grows were never able to gather steam to reclaim the wreckage — until last year.

When Wyatt Grow graduated from college last spring, he spurred his family into trying again.