HUNGRY HORSE — The Flathead National Forest has received a proposal from Pursuit Attractions and Hospitality to build a tram taking passengers from Hungry Horse to just below the summit of Columbia Mountain.
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The proposed tram would ascend 3,000 vertical feet.
“It’s definitely an accessible way to access one of the most scenic points in northwest Montana,” said Pursuit Pacific Northwest COO Gary Rodgers.
Rodgers said the tram would consist of two 100-passenger cabins.
It would take guests up to a station just below the summit of Columbia Mountain.
“We’re positioning it as a year-round attraction and to operate in all weather conditions and be a fixture for 12 months a year,” said Rodgers.
Pursuit proposed a similar tram up Columbia Mountain back in 2022.
Rodgers said this proposal would include more public engagement to determine if the project is the right fit for the community.
“And that was really a missing piece of our submittal previously is it was really not a public process, and so we really value input from stakeholders, residents of Flathead Valley, you know, U.S. citizens. This is our public lands,” said Rodgers.
Flathead National Forest Supervisor Anthony Botello said the unsolicited proposal now enters a screening process to determine whether there is public need for the tram and if Pursuit has the financial and technical ability to operate it.
If the proposal is accepted, a formal application would then be submitted by Pursuit.
“Then we go through a true public involvement process, NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act). We do an environmental assessment, make a decision, involve the public at that point, because right now it’s an external proposal. When it becomes an application, then it becomes one of our Forest Service proposed actions,” said Botello.
Rodgers said the tram would operate under a U.S. Forest Service Special Use Permit and would be fully financed by Pursuit.
Botello said the Forest Service has up to two to three months to decide on the proposal.
“One of the pieces of the screening criteria is to determine public need and public interest, and so to do that we’re going to engage community members and the tribes and some of our elected officials, etc., partners and key stakeholders to kind of gauge that community public interest and public need for that kind of project,” said Botello.
More information on the proposed project can be found here.
