80 Passengers Rescued From Stalled Aspen Chair Lift
ASPEN, Colo. (CBS4) - An estimated 80 passengers had to be rescued from the Tiehack Express chair lift at Aspen on Wednesday.
The high-speed, four-person lift on Buttermilk Mountain stopped working at approximately 11 a.m. due to a mechanical issue.
The Aspen Times reports that it is the third consecutive ski season in which a mechanical issue disabled a chairlift at Aspen Skiing Co. during the busy holiday season.
Nearly two dozen ski patrollers began rescuing the lift's passengers at 12:30 p.m. and everyone was down by 2:30 p.m.
While chairlift stops are common, evacuations have been rare at Aspen. Rich Burkley, vice president of mountain operations said, "In my career we've never done one -- 27 years," the Aspen Times reports.
The vast majority of the time mechanics get the lift operating again. It became apparent after about an hour that this repair could take longer.
Passengers were each given two free lift tickets as compensation.