Category: Lift Evacuations

More than 150 evacuated from stuck chairlift at Stowe, VT.

From The State – AP

STOWE, VT.

State regulators are looking into why a chairlift stopped running at a Vermont ski resort, prompting the evacuation of approximately 160 skiers and snowboarders.

The Lookout Double lift stopped operating around 10:30 a.m. Sunday because of an interruption in the electrical system, Stowe Mountain Resort spokesman Jeff Wise said in a written statement. An auxiliary engine also did not work so the ski patrol started evacuating the lift at 10:45 a.m. using rope to rappel people down. All guests were safely off the lift by about 1 p.m., Wise said.

Some were stranded for hours. Keri Crafts, of Burlington, and her two daughters were about halfway up when the lift stopped. She told WCAX-TV they sat there for about 2 ½ hours, and at one point, she saw people start to jump from chairs to the ground.

“We got off and we were so frozen, it was probably 20 degrees, maybe,” she said. “With the winds and snow, many people we talked to were like, we can’t even ski down,” said Keri Crafts of Burlington.”

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