Nearly 200 people rescued from Colorado ski resort gondola after metal support cracks
Almost 200 people were rescued after a metal support structure on a ski resort gondola in Colorado cracked, reports say.
The gondola at Winter Park Resort shut down after detecting “a significant malfunction” around 12:15 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, several news outlets reported.
About 182 skiers and snowboarders were trapped on the gondola for roughly five hours while ski patrol lowered them 30 to 50 feet to the ground via ropes, according to a KDVR report and the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board.
During that time, photos began circulating on social media showing a huge crack in a metal support structure on one of the towers.
“Rough situation for everyone,” someone wrote with a photo they posted of the crack on Reddit.
Winter Park Resort spokesperson Jen Miller told Sky-Hi News the crack was “the source of the malfunction.”
“We’re not sure why the part failed and are investigating that,” she told the outlet.
The safety board is also investigating the “evener beam” failure, officials told McClatchy News via email. The board contacted other ski areas to make sure lifts with similar equipment designs were not affected and didn’t find further issues, but officials instructed resorts to “perform frequent follow-up inspections until further notice.”
The gondola manufacturer replaced the failed component and reopened the gondola just after 1 p.m. Monday, Dec. 23, officials said. The board is still working with the resort and the manufacturer to figure out what caused the incident.
The gondola is inspected three times per year, most recently in October, officials said.
Another person posted a video of ski patrol setting up a rope system for those inside a gondola to lower safely to the ground.
“Never seen this before,” Lennon Sarfati said in the caption on the post.
Evacuating the gondola called for ski patrol members “climbing the gondola towers, shimmying down the cable, entering the car from the top and using a rope system to lower passengers to a team on the ground,” The Denver Post reported.
There were no injuries reported during the evacuation, the outlet reported.
Winter Park is about a 70-mile drive west from Denver.
This story was originally published December 23, 2024 at 3:21 PM with the headline "Nearly 200 people rescued from Colorado ski resort gondola after metal support cracks."
