Ober Mountain Adventure Park & Ski Area, formerly known as Ober Gatlinburg, is a ski area and amusement park located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, that was established in 1962. The area also contains a large mall with indoor amusements, an indoor ice skating rink, snack bars, a restaurant, and stores. An aerial tramway connects Ober Mountain to downtown Gatlinburg, which is about 3 miles east.
History
The ski area opened in 1962 as Gatlinburg Ski Resort. In 1973, Claude Anders opened the Gatlinburg Aerial Tramway. In 1974, the Gatlinburg Ski Resort began to go out of business due to publicity from a bad lift accident. It was bought the Anders Family in 1975 and merged with the Gatlinburg Aerial Tramway.
In 1977, it was renamed Ober Gatlinburg,[2][3] which is German for "Upper Gatlinburg" or "Top of Gatlinburg."[4] The upper mall opened in 1982.[4] Snow tubing was added to the resort in 2008.[3] In 2012, the resort installed a snowmaking system, which allows them to open earlier in the season, before natural snow occurs.[5] In 2017, it upgraded the snowmaking system, particularly focusing on Cub Way.[2] In 2022, the resort was sold to new owners, who renamed the resort from "Ober Gatlinburg" to "Ober Mountain Adventure Park & Ski Area."[6]
Slopes
Slopes
Length
Drop
Alpine Way
2900' / 884m
279' / 85m
Upper Bear Run
3200' / 975m
393' / 120m
Lower Bear Run
1600' / 488m
160' / 49m
Castle Run
1900' / 579m
163' / 50m
Cub Way
2300' / 701m
163' / 50m
Grizzly
3800' / 1158m
556' / 170m
Mogul Ridge
0300' / 90m
235' / 72m
Yeti's Run
700' / 213m
120' / 36m
Ober Chute
4400' / 1340m
556' / 170m
Ski School
Teaching Area
Gentle Slope
A multi-lane snow tubing hill has lanes that are approximately 400 feet (122 m) long with a 50 feet (15 m) vertical drop. The tubing hill is serviced by a magic carpet, as is the ski school slope.
Lifts
The Scenic Lift is a double lift that runs to the summit of Mount Harrison, where there is a scenic overlook. The lift is 3,019 feet (920 m) long and rises 779 feet (237 m) in elevation.[7] The Blue Lift is also a double lift that terminates at the Alpine Way slope and the alpine slide. The Red Lift and the Black Lift are quad lifts.[1]
Aerial tramway
The aerial tramway departs from downtown Gatlinburg and travels west to the resort. The system was built in 1973 by Von Roll Ltd.[4] and has two 120-passenger cabins. They were replaced by Doppelmayr in 2020. The 2.1 miles (3.4 km) tram ride runs 17 miles per hour (27 km/h) and takes about 10 minutes.[8]