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Dozens of skiers were dramatically rescued from stalled gondola cabins at an upstate New York ski resort after a mechanical problem left them stranded several feet in the air for hours.
The lift system at Gore Mountain in North Creek was forced to shut down on Wednesday after its tower wheel assembly moved out of alignment — leaving 67 skiers stuck in 20 towering gondola cabins.
Photos captured state park rangers and staff members rushing to climb lift poles, scale the cables between the individual cabins and then use rope and body harnesses to meticulously lower each person to the snowy ground.
The entire rescue mission at the mountain took five hours. No one was injured, authorities said.
Although temperatures were below freezing on the slopes roughly 90 miles from Albany, the enclosed cabins stayed warm in the sunlight.
“It was sobering and something that I’ll probably carry with me for the rest of my life,” Kevin Bolan, a 64-year-old physician assistant and longtime skier, told the Associated Press.
“You think nothing of getting on a lift or getting on a gondola, and now you’re going to think twice,” he added.
”You’re going to make sure you go to the bathroom and maybe have a power bar with you and make sure you’re prepared, just like if you were going into the woods on a hike.”
The New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority, which operates Gore Mountain, said the mechanical issue triggered a safety sensor that stopped the lift immediately.
“Our trained mountain operations team carried out the evacuation, and guests were supported throughout the process,” the authority said in a statement.
“Safety remains our top priority, and our teams are fully trained and experienced in managing situations like this.”
The gondola lift reopened on Thursday.
With Post wires
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