"Between classes, kids could take a run or two," Godfrey said Tuesday during a debate over the merits of building a tram to carry passengers from Ogden's east bench to the top of Snowbasin Ski Resort.

Godfrey favors a route beginning on campus, adding that the tram would "put Weber State on the global map" while boosting Ogden's economic fortunes.

But Dan Schroeder, a physics professor and chairman of the Sierra Club's Ogden chapter, said the tram would detract from east bench trails, disrupt the wilderness and increase traffic in area neighborhoods.

He speculated that a wilderness designation for the mountains towering over Ogden might be a better economic-development tool.

"It would send the message that we love our mountains enough to leave them alone," he said. "What's already there is so much more fantastic than anything we could dream up."

The dream of a tram or gondola up Mount Ogden to Snowbasin has been around for more than half a century. In the late 1990s, a feasibility study prompted the City Council to back away from a tram, and dueling petitions and opinion polls showed most residents opposed the idea.

But Godfrey maintains a tram would turn Ogden into a tourist destination like Park City; Sun Valley, Idaho; or Telluride, Colo. Like those cities, Ogden boasts a beautiful setting and historic buildings while sitting at the bottom of a high-end ski resort, he said.

"The only thing separating us from them" is a ski lift to the top, Godfrey said. With a tram, "All of a sudden we are the funky, cool place."

Besides attracting job-producing ski- and recreational-equipment manufacturers, a tram would lead to much-needed investment in Ogden's residential neighborhoods and help lure upscale retailers into a renovated downtown, the mayor said.

The city also is trying to convince the Utah Transit Authority that a gondola is the best form of transit between a downtown transit center and WSU.

Godfrey says the tram would cost more than $12 million predicted in 1990. He acknowledged that some public money probably would be required.

The resort's owner, Earl Holding, has taken no position on the tram.

Ed Allen, Godfrey's father-in-law and a former state senator who heads up Lift Ogden, asked Schroeder why the Sierra Club opposes a tram that could cut vehicle traffic through Ogden and Weber canyons.

"It's mass transit. It's pollution-free. It's saving the mountains," Allen said.

But Schroeder noted that roads, ski lifts and trails allowing all-terrain vehicles already lace the area's peaks.

"We are losing our uninterrupted wilderness in our mountains," Schroeder said. "Isn't it time to say enough is enough?"

kmoulton@sltrib.com