Over 170 skiers and snowboarders were left stranded after a gondola malfunction in Colorado.
Visitors at Winter Park Resort needed rescuing on Saturday after a gondola lift shut down due to a mechanical issue. According to Jen Miller, the resort’s public relations and communication manager, ski patrol was able to evacuate individuals between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.
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174 Skiers and Snowboarders Rescued Following Gondola Malfunction
“We were going up to do our first run, my wife and I, and we stopped … for about 15 minutes and we started kind of thinking, maybe it’s unusual,” Aleksey Dmitriyev, one of the rescued skiers, told FOX31. “I called the line, and the line said if it’s less than 20 minutes don’t worry, call us back… Then we waited a bit longer and we started seeing ski patrol coming down and talking to people from the ground to the cabin, like saying how many of you in the cabin, all that.”
Dmitriyev—along with his wife—were trapped about 30 to 50 feet in the air.
“Everybody was pretty calm, ski patrol was calm and professional and assured us,” he told FOX31. “That was actually the first time the gondola broke down in Winter Park.”
According to Miller, all trapped guests received a $10 voucher and two lift passes. The gondola has also remained closed for repairs and inspections. It’s unclear when exactly, but according to the resort, it will be “open as soon as possible to the public.”
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