Transformative Mighty Argo Cable Car gondola project eyes completion in Colorado mountains

There is a symphony being conducted in Idaho Springs. It features the sounds of trucks pumping and backing, workers cutting and hammering in the latter stages of a project that holds promise of a tourist resurgence. 

The Mighty Argo Cable Car gondola project starts near the old Argo Gold Mine and Mill and old Argo Tunnel. It leads from up a mountainside via a 1.3-mile gondola route. It culminates following a 1,300-foot vertical rise to a mountaintop, where there will be bars and restaurants, a playground and an amphitheater and entry to city operated hiking and mountain biking trails. 

The development is the brainchild of Mary Jane Loevlie. She is a veteran businesswoman with a background in real estate and the concrete industry. Loevlie envisioned the project over a glass of wine with a friend at her home on the other side of the valley in Idaho Springs. Loevlie then got the backing of the late Dana Crawford, the visionary and developer of Denver's Larimer Square and Union Station, and a longtime friend of hers. 

The Argo Mill site is part of a 400-square-mile former Superfund site that has been remediated. 

"Aren't they beautiful, our golden gondola cabins?" Loevlie exclaimed Tuesday at the busy project site. 

There will be 22 gondola cars, including some with glass floors and five bicycle cars, which are to be the first bicycle-devoted gondola cars in the U.S. 

There are currently 16 miles of trails open, but eventually there will be more than 28 miles.

Loevlie says, when things open, "I'm going to hike up, have my mimosa and ride the cable car down." 

This week is the final testing of the gondolas by its builder. There were over 500 helicopter flights in the raising of the towers and foundations. A heavy ballast of barrels of water is being hauled by cars before the system is turned over to the Mighty Argo Cable Car group. It will undergo testing by the state on April 8 before people are allowed on board. If that test goes well, backers plan to set an opening in late April.

"I'm very excited for that. It's time this machine starts spinning in circles," said Jack Hendrisson, lift and facilities director for the Mighty Argo project.

The Mighty Argo gondola has its base near the old Argo Gold Mine and Mill, which processed gold ore, and the 4.2-mile Argo Tunnel that carried water and ore out of hundreds of mines in the area starting in the late 1800s until 1943 when a massive flood closed both.  

While mill tours have been going on for years, the area is now set to be a major draw in an effort to be a cornerstone once again of the economy of the area.   

Loevlie says they did a marketing study to confirm the potential that she believes exists. 

"We hired the world's foremost expert on point-of-interest gondolas, and his first comment was, 'You have no idea what you have here,'" Loevlie explained. 

She says they were told to expect about 500,000 to 700,000 riders a year. They believe they can turn a profit on the $71 million project with about half that number of people. The project has brought in both local and international investment. 

There have been setbacks during the process. In 2021, $4.5 million held in escrow was embezzled. A civil court judgment put the blame on a title company, with a criminal trial still ahead in 2026. But the backers have kept going. 

The plan for Miners Point at the top includes not only the open spaces and views but a playground. Zoning in the project allows for the eventual possible construction of glamping sites as well as housing and a hotel, Loevlie said. 

The city of Idaho Springs is a partner in the deal and is the developer of the trails. There will be about 40 jobs at the start. A marketing push will begin in a couple weeks. Loevlie likes to repeat that it is a 35-minute driving distance from Denver.

"Every time people come up here for a meeting, they're early because they think we're further than we are, and, once construction is complete on Floyd Hill, that impediment will be gone too," she touted. 

"We've got the gorgeous Continental Divide, four fourteeners -- Blue Sky, Grays, Torreys and Bierstadt," said Loevlie, as she looked out from one of the overlooks up top. "Ten minutes from the base to the top, to this amazing vista that most people in Denver never see."