Park Profile
parkworld-online.com
Iron Mountain Tramway
Table with a view: Lookout Grille
the US to have achieved level III certification as an instructor and a senior ride inspector with the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials (NAARSO). In addition to Heard’s new role, four supervisors are being promoted to managers as part of the reorganisation. Mark Francis, photography manager, joined the staff as a cave tour guide in 2013 and has served as photographer supervisor this year. James McGoodwin, attractions manager, was an intern at the park in 2011 and started full-time as attractions supervisor in 2012. Kathy Miller, natural attractions manager, joined the park as a cave tour guide in 2006. Laura VanLue, retail manager, has been a crucial member of the retail operations since 2007. While Glenwood Caverns has entertained guests from around the world, the majority come from Colorado, particularly the Front Range, which includes Denver and Colorado Springs. “Last year we had 165,000 visitors,” Beckley reveals. “Over the last four years, we have maintained an average of 10% growth per year in annual attendance. One of the limiting factors to the park is the Iron Mountain Tramway, which has capacity for just 350 people per hour. We are currently in the engineering phase of installing a second lift system from Wiegand that will provide capacity for up to an additional 1,500 people per hour. Another benefit to the system is the limited impacts from wind and lightning since it utilises rails on the ground.”
Winter work
Beckley is looking forward to further enhancing his park this winter. “The Winter on the Mountain event is really going to help us build our slow season, and will give people another reason to visit Glenwood Springs during the winter. We have also purchased some additional land next to the tram base along the Colorado River where we will start developing the hot springs for opening next summer.”
Soaring Eagle Zip Ride
Steve Beckley did not begin his career in the outdoor amusement industry, but rather as a petroleum engineer. The rides came later. “I’ve always loved caving,” he confesses to Park World, “and read about the Fairy Caves in book called Caves of Colorado while I was in college. It was really intriguing to me that there was this cave system that had once been a tourist destination, but was now closed to the public, so I tried to contact the owner. He did not respond, but I kept writing letters for 10 years. He finally agreed to let me visit in 1992, then it took six more years until he was willing to lease the caves and land to me and my wife. “We re-opened the caves in May 1999, and more than 30,000 people rode buses to tour the caves that summer. The road is only accessible about half the year, so we had to close in the winter. We added the Iron Mountain Tramway in 2003 to provide year-round access, along with a visitor centre and restaurant. Once the tram opened, we had a lot of people up here waiting for caves tours with nothing else to do, so we started adding rides. It’s all here because of the caves!”
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Cliffhanger
Wild West Express
Ride the rides love the view! Here’s Glenwood Caverns rides and attractions, and who made them: Cliffhanger (rollercoaster)
S&MC Alpine Coaster
Giant Canyon Swing Glenwood Canyon Flyer Mine Wheel
Wild West Express Coaster Giddy Up Zip Ride
Iron Mountain Tramway Laser Tag
4D Motion Theater Cowboy Camp
Fort WhereAmI maze Climbing wall
Mine Shaft shooting gallery Gemstone sluice box mining Speleobox cave simulator Fairy Cave Tour
King’s Row Cave Tour Wiegand
S&S Worldwide SBF/Visa SBF/Visa Zierer S&S
Soaring Eagle Poma
Laser Runner Media Mation Built in-house
Amaze-n-Mazes
Extreme Engineering Pan Amusements Sandy Creek Talking Rocks
Natural attraction Natural attraction
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