Winter Park Ski Patrol rescued 150-175 people from the resort’s gondola Saturday after what the resort described as an “operational malfunction.”
Rescuers used ropes to hoist people down to the ground and climbed ladders on chairlift towers to help skiers and snowboarders. The gondola shut down just after noon on Saturday and the rescue operation continued until about 6 p.m., Winter Park spokesperson Jen Miller said.
“Ski patrol has trained extensively for this,” she said, adding that it was the first time the gondola, which opened around Christmas 2018, had been evacuated. “It’s a very rare thing to have to evacuate a lift at all.”
No injuries were reported.
The resort ordered a new part for the gondola from the lift’s designer, Grand Junction-based Leitner Poma of North America. Miller said it was unknown how long it would take to fix it.
“It’s a bummer for sure,” she said. “But malfunctions do happen and our teams are trained. It’s not an overnight fix. We’re not sure how long it’s going to take to fix it.”
Photos on social media posted by skiers and snowboarders riding up the gondola showed a ski patroller at the top of a ladder on a chairlift tower. The gondola cabin next to the pole was filled with people and the poster wrote that people were being rescued from gondola cabins above and below them. “Putting on a harness,” the post said.
Another post, on Instagram, showed ski patrollers using red ropes to lower people from the gondola cabins and onto the snow below. Skiers also posted a photo of a cracked piece of metal on a lift tower.
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Miller said the crack was “part of the malfunction” but that teams were still investigating the cause. “We are working with the (Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board), the manufacturer, all of the authorities,” she said.
“The gondola did what it was designed to do and once the malfunction happened, it stopped,” Miller said.
The 3,000-acre-plus resort managed by Alterra Mountain Co. operates 23 lifts, including three high-speed six-packs, six high-speed quads and the 10-person gondola. The Gondola – its name is The Gondola – opened in 2018 and replaced the high-speed quad chair called the Zephyr. The Gondola was among the highest capacity gondolas in the country in 2018, with as many as 75 cabins capable of carrying up to 3,600 skiers an hour.