Ober Gatlinburg is an amusement park and ski area, located in the mountains overlooking Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The area contains a large mall with indoor amusements, a skating rink, snack bars, a big full service lounge, a restaurant, and gift and clothing stores. Outside there is an alpine slide, one of the few in the United States, a scenic chairlift(the longest in the U.S.) to the top of Mount Harrison a bumper cars and kiddie rides. What was formerly known as the Black Bear Habitat where visitors could see bears close up recently expanded to become the ‘Smoky Mountain Wildlife Adventure’ where in addition to the bears there are animals native to the Smoky Mountains such as river otters, possums, racoons, turtle, snakes, brown squirrels and flying squirrels. During summer season and the winter months when it is a ski resort, the 120 passenger aerial trams carry an average three to four thousand people a day to the resort from downtown Gatlinburg.

The Ober Gatlinburg Ski area

Ober Gatlinburg has eight skiing trails and three chairlifts. It is a very popular winter ski area (being one of the very few in the southeast and the only one in Tennessee.) Skiers and Snowboarders are sometimes prepared to line up for over an hour to board the tram to the slopes.

A multi-tracked Snow Tubing slide is scheduled to open during the 2008-2009 ski season where riders can slide down snow chutes on inflatable ‘bobsleds.’ It’s expected to be extremely popular because it will let guests enjoy the snow without having to have the skills required for skis or snowboards.

Ober Gatlinburg’s Chairlift

The main chairlift is a $6 per person to ride, and the weight capacity on the lift is 155kg (342 pounds). The total ride lasts about 30 minutes. You can either get off halfway and ride the alpine slide down or go all the way up. A unique thing about this chairlift is that it runs up into the virtually untouched summit of the mountain and at the top, there is a place for you to take pictures and listen to a live band playing country music. There are other mountains with the same or better views from the top of this chairlift but the only way to get there is by a 3 or 4 hour hike.

Tramway to Ober Gatlinburg

The tramway departs from downtown Gatlinburg and travels to the resort. There are two 120-passenger cabs. The 2.1 mile tram ride runs 17 mph and takes about 10 minutes and offers spectacular views of the mountains in the daytime and the sparkling lights of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and beyond at night.