The Media Tourist

Taking in the awesome sights atop Ober Mountain

I got high in Gatlinburg.

Really, really high—on the longest, steepest, highest-altitude chairlift in Tennessee.

There are other ways to get elevated in Gatlinburg, the bustling tourist hotspot at the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But this ride is the OG. The appropriately named Scenic Chairlift was installed in the early 1960s for winter access to high-up ski slopes, then repurposed later for anyone to enjoy the spectacular view of the Smokies from the tippy-top of Mount Harrison, 3,455 feet above sea level. Up there, the air is thinner, the temps are cooler, and the majestic peaks of the surrounding mountains tower like silent sentinels as far as the eye can see. You can hear the crickets chirping, but little else.

Today, the Scenic Lift is part of the sprawling, ever-expanding amusement park and recreation complex at Ober Mountain, itself one of Gatlinburg’s oldest tourist attractions. What eventually became Ober was originally built as a private ski club in 1962, and members had to access the lift first by driving their own vehicles to the mountaintop “lodge.” Later, the cable-car gondolas of Ober’s Aerial Tramway, which became the attraction’s “signature” ride after opening to the public in 1973, were launched as an alternative, weather-proof way for snow enthusiasts to get to the slopes when higher-altitude winter driving was inadvisable.

When the Aerial Tramway opened, it was the largest in the world, with enclosed aerial lifts that could each hold up 120 passengers at a time. Initially called Ober Gatlinburg (which simply means “Over Gatlinburg”), the tramway and all its associated attractions were recently rebranded under progress-minded new management as Ober Mountain. But it’s always been one of the best, and most unique ways, to take in the sights going up, coming down and all around. In August, the Ober Tramway marked its 50^th anniversary. And for decades, it’s been so much more the “ski lift” club that started it all.

If you’ve been to Gatlinburg anytime since the 1970s, you’re probably familiar with Ober, operating from its “base” on the southwest end of the downtown Gatlinburg main-drag parkway just a few hundred yards from the Tennessee-side driving entrance into the park via U.S. highway 441. Built on the site of a former motel, Ober’s street-level, lodge-like Tramway Mall houses the massive mechanics—the giant bullwheel and oversized spools of thick, Swiss-made steel cable—that pull along the twin gondolas. You can view the innards of the truly impressive operation through windows on the lower level. Inside the main Tramway, look up to the second interior walk-around level and you’ll see the building’s history along one side, where Ober offices were built into exterior rooms of the old Hemlock motel.

In the Tramway, you can stroll around and watch the suspended gondolas moving smoothly overhead, gliding along between huge steel towers. You can nibble on tasty treats at the Chocolate Monkey, buy souvenirs and coffee drinks, or get a relaxing aqua massage before you board a cable car for the trip across the treetops to Ober Mountain (elevation 2,687 feet).

There’ll you’ll find a mountainside hub of activities featuring a mall with an ice-skating rink, retail shops and snack bars with fudge (yes, more fudge!), ice cream, sandwiches and hot dogs. There are even lockers to stash your “stuff” while you do other things, inside or outside at the adjacent Adventure Park, like the tree-topping Tennessee Flyer mountain coaster, a kids’ play zone, an alpine slide, more food options and live entertainment. There are additional seasonal activities, like summer water tubing, snow skiing and snow tubing in the winter, and Friday-night movies on a huge, high-tech outdoor screen Friday nights through October.

There’s also mountain biking (all downhill, accessible on a chairlift specially fitted with bike racks), and the Scenic Lift, the cable-chair ride up the steep side of Mount Harrison, where you’ll rise almost 800 additional feet above and beyond the Adventure Park to a cleared-out plateau with restrooms, a viewing area, more snacks, and live bluegrass music on Gatlinburg’s highest stage May through November.

Ober’s Wildlife Habitat, also atop Ober Mountain, features black bears, river otters, bobcats, and raccoons, plus flying squirrels, turtles, birds of prey and snakes. It’s the best way you can visit Gatlinburg and be guaranteed to get up close and personal with a spectrum of indigenous Tennessee creatures. All the animals there have been “rescued” and relocated from zoos, or from rehab facilities that took them in after injury or abandonment.  One of everyone’s favorite critters is a little albino racoon named Casper, whose lack of natural-camouflage coloration made him a target for predators, especially after his little paw was seriously injuring by a dog. Casper is so popular, says Amy Warner, Ober’s vice president of sales and marketing, that Ober gift shops will soon be offering “Casper” souvenirs and plush toys.

And everything (except snacks, retail purchases and souvenirs, and equipment rental for skis and mountain biking) is included in the $49 wristband you can buy down on the Parkway level, in the Tramway. It’s a terrific deal for the array of activities for all ages, year-round, plus some of the most awesome, unparalleled views in all of Gatlinburg, especially in the fall.

Warner also shared with me the plans for even more additions and renovations at Ober, including a mountaintop event space and a zipline from mountaintop to mountaintop. She envisions mountaintop wedding ceremonies after which the bride, groom and entire wedding party can cap off the event by strapping in and zipping down. It’s all part of Ober’s plans to “modernize” this iconic fixture of Gatlinburg, she says, while continuing to cultivate the unique nostalgia of its 50-year heritage of skiing, sightseeing and mountain tourism.  

And, of course, all while offering one of the best (natural) highs in all of Tennessee.

Photos except Aerial Tram courtesy Ober Mountain