More than 170 snowboarders and skiers rescued after Colorado ski lift malfunction

An elevator at a Colorado ski resort broke down on the way up the mountain, forcing crews to rescue more than 170 skiers and snowboarders from the lift.

According to reports, 174 people using ski lifts at Winter Park Resort were trapped just after 12 noon local time on Saturday, December 21. The Guardian and colorado sun.

Resort spokesperson Jen Miller told colorado sun The machine automatically stopped after detecting cracks in the elevator's structural components. She called the crack an “operational failure.”

Ski patrol crews quickly began rescuing everyone, entering individual pods from the top of the cabin and lowering them to the ground using ropes with seats. Passenger equipment was also removed from each cabin and lowered to the ground, Miller told reporters. Associated Press.

“Ski Patrol trains extensively for this,” she told colorado sunnoting that this was the first time the ski lift, which opened in December 2018, had been evacuated. “Evacuation from an elevator is a very rare occurrence.”

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Evacuations began around 1 p.m., and the local affiliated station fox 31 Ski patrol members continued working until everyone was safely on the ground at 6 p.m. No one was injured, according to reports.

video Photos shared on social media by bystanders and skiers trapped inside cabins showed local ski patrol entering each cabin and using ropes to stop the lifts. lower passengers dozens of feet above the ground.

A TikTok video It shows the beginning of the incident, when a resort employee called from the ground to a cabin filled with skiers and snowboarders to ask if anyone was injured.

“Ski Patrol has initiated a lift evacuation,” the employee shouted to skiers, then asked if there were any injured, elderly or disabled guests in the cabin.

“Is everyone feeling okay?” a member of the ski patrol can be heard telling lift passengers at another location Tik Tok video and then began escorting them to the ground. “We'll slowly lower each of you down. We'll leave the gear behind and get the gear out at the end.”

The Winter Park resort has closed the elevator and crews began replacing the section that cracked on Sunday, according to media reports. State regulators, including the Colorado Streetcar Safety Board and U.S. manufacturer Leitner Poma, will inspect the elevators after they reopen and investigate what caused the cracks, Fox 31 reported.

Miller told colorado sun The crack was “part of the malfunction” and it said the cause was still under investigation. “We are working with the Colorado Passenger Trolley Safety Commission, the manufacturer and all authorities,” she said.

She added: “The pod did what it was designed to do and once it failed it stopped.”

Winter Park Resort did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

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Miller noted that Winter Park — a more than 3,000-acre resort operated by Alterra Mountain Company — still has 21 operating ski lifts and that no construction is expected at the park. completed.

“It's definitely a bummer,” she told colorado sun. “But glitches do happen and our teams are trained. It's not something that happens overnight. We're not sure how long it will take to fix it.”