NewsNational

Actions

140 people stuck for hours on Montana ski lift

Posted at 6:36 AM, Jan 01, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-01 06:45:25-05

KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — A Montana ski resort says it has safely evacuated 140 people from a chairlift after a mechanical problem prompted operators to stop the lift.

The Flathead Beacon reports it took 2½ hours to remove everyone from Whitefish Mountain Resort's Chair 5 on Saturday.

Resort officials say they decided to evacuate the passengers because of the time the repairs would require.

Some of people were lowered from the lift with cables and harnesses. Resort officials say temperatures were in the high teens and winds were blowing at about 10 mph (16 kilometers per hour) at the time.

The resort says no one was injured.

The ski patrol carried out the evacuation.