Colorado ski lift rescue: 174 skiers and snowboarders rescued after lift cracks
FILE-Hikers cross a rocky mountain area in Estes Park, Colorado. (Please note, this is not the ski resort where the ski lift incident occurred. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
An investigation is underway to determine the cause of a crack in a ski lift that resulted in the rescue of more than 170 stranded skiers and snowboarders.
A spokesperson for the Winter Park Resort tells the Associated Press that the gondola lift at the facility, which is roughly 70 miles west of Denver, stopped when it identified the crack in a structural piece of the lift shortly after noon on Dec. 21.
Individuals riding in the gondolas were lowered down by ropes over the course of five hours, the spokesperson added.
There were no injuries reported during the rescues, which happened at the start of a busy holiday ski season.
Citing the Winter Park Resort spokesperson, the AP reported that ski patrollers entered the cabin of every gondola from above and lowered people’s equipment to the ground before using a rope armed with a seat to lower each of the 174 passengers to the ground.
The spokesperson explained to the AP that workers were replacing the section of the lift that cracked on Dec. 22 as Colorado regulators and the ski lift’s manager worked with officials at the resort to probe what caused the crack. There were 21 other ski lifts open at the resort.