The Eyrie

A tramway built for silver, now built for you

The car leaves the lower station with a lurch and a clang, and the bell rings once. Then the ground drops away. Trees, then talus, then the long bright sheet of Silver Lake opening wider and wider until the town is a scatter of rooftops at the head of it. By the time you reach the ridge you are a thousand feet up, hanging on a cable strung in 1908, looking down at two of everything — the mountains above the water and the same mountains held perfectly still below it.

The Skyline was an ore tramway first. For half a century it lowered silver down the mountain to the lake. The buckets are gone now and the line has been rebuilt to carry people, but it runs the same route the ore did, on the same proud, improbable angle, and it still rings the same bell.

Reeva Vane, the Bellwoman

For fifty years the Skyline was run by Reeva Vane, whom everyone in Silvermere knew simply as the Bellwoman. From a little glassed-in cabin at the upper station she watched every car climb the mountain, and for every one she rang a brass bell — a signal to the crews below that a load was on its way, and, the stories say, a small blessing for the cable and everyone riding it.

Reeva is long gone, but the bell never stopped. To this day an operator rings it for every ascent. Listen for it as your car pulls away from the lower station: one clear note over the lake, fifty years of habit and a hundred of history in a single ring.

The Eyrie teahouse

At the top of the line, pinned to the very edge of the Silvercrest ridge, the Eyrie is a small glass teahouse built to feel like it's floating. Three walls of glass face the lake; the floor steps right to the cliff. Inside, it is all warm timber, pots of tea, and slabs of cake, with the cold blue immensity of the valley held just beyond the panes. It is the kind of room you come up for and then simply cannot leave.

The teahouse runs year-round, with a fireplace going in winter and the windows thrown open to the meadows in summer. No reservation needed to sit; just ride up, find a seat by the glass, and order.

Summer up top, winter up top

The mountain does two completely different things with the seasons.

• Summer: step off the tram into alpine meadows. A web of easy ridge-walks fans out from the upper station, from a ten-minute stroll to the lookout to a half-day along the crest. Wildflowers peak in July.
• Winter: the upper bowl becomes a small, friendly two-run ski hill — one gentle run and one with a bit more pitch, both served by the tram. It's a locals' hill, not a megaresort, and that's the charm.

Tickets and access

Tram tickets are sold at the lower station, with single-ride, return, and full-day options, and a season pass for the regulars. The lower station has a paved lot and is served by local transit in the summer season.

The tram cars and both stations are wheelchair accessible, with level boarding and room for a chair in each car; let the attendant know and they'll hold the car steady at the platform. The Eyrie teahouse is accessible from the upper station on a short level boardwalk. The alpine trails beyond the boardwalk are unpaved mountain terrain.