Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

I misguidedly took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway - a revolving cable car that takes you up from the desert floor to an altitude of over 8500 feet in just 10 minutes! I can't believe I spent good money (and I mean the price of at least three frozen margueritas - not the pizzas!) to be scared out of my wits and to end up feeling quite queasy! It goes so fast that it hurts your ears. The effect of vertigo is appalling - it makes your knees go weak with nausea. But worst of all, as the cable car goes over the pylons (and there are five of those bad boys) it SWINGS and the entire carful of passengers goes "woooaaaaahhhh". Horrible! Once up there in the rocky, alpine wilderness, it's freezing and your first thought is: how long before I'm brave enough to go down again and get back to the nice, warm, flat desert? I was queuing for the downward run after only a 15 minutes and a few quick photos of the view. It actually wasn't quite so bad coming down. Now the cable itself, which you can view, looks pretty thick and the whole thing was precision engineered by the Swiss who get lots of practice in that sort of thing. So it didn't look ready to snap. But supposing there was an earthquake and over go the pylons? Supposing there is a power cut? Supposing the cablecar man pushes the wrong button and the doors open?






The little whte lines are wind turbines.

Up above the clouds!

There's always someone who wants to take your photo for you! I am wearing...a towel.