February 02, 2022
Ekem/Creative Commons
The photo above shows a view of the Endless Mountains from atop Elk Mountain in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Approximately 170 skiers were safely evacuated from a malfunctioning chairlift at the Elk Mountain Ski Resort on Jan. 30, 2021.
Elk Mountain Ski Resort in northeastern Pennsylvania is one of the state's most popular winter sports destinations, offering more than two dozen trails of varying difficulty and slopes up to 1,000 feet of elevation.
On Sunday afternoon, guests at the resort near Union Dale, Susquehanna County had a bit of a scare when one of the chairlifts malfunctioned due to a problem with a gearbox. More than 150 skiers were left suspended in the sky as Elk Mountain crews implemented the resorts evacuation protocol.
WNEP Newswatch 16 reporter Mindi Ramsey was at Elk Mountain when the chairlift malfunctioned and captured video from the scene.
Ski lift rescueThe ski patrol did an amazing job of rescuing 170 people at Elk Mountain when the lift broke.
Posted by Newswatch 16 Mindi Ramsey on Monday, January 31, 2022
In a nerve-wracking situation, Ramsey said the resort showed preparation in handling the evacuation.
"The crews ... were really good about explaining about what exactly (the skiers) had to do," Ramsey said, via WNEP. "They had to scoot off the edge of the seat a little bit, and they were kind of on a little bit of plastic. And they were let down slowly with a rope. So it was all very clean. You could tell they had practiced this before."
There were no injuries reported in the incident on Sunday and all guests who were affected by the malfunction received compensation for the day.
Chairlift issues don't always end so smoothly. Last March, three people were injured at Camelback Mountain when a chairlift broke loose from its line, dropping its occupants 15 feet into the snow.
Other incidents require quick thinking when a skier is in imminent danger. A group of teenagers in Vancouver came to the rescue of an 8-year-old boy who was dangling from a chairlift at Grouse Mountain a few years ago, catching him using safety netting from along the trail.
Elk Mountain did not immediately respond to a request for information on Wednesday morning. Maintenance work to repair the ski box was supposed to be completed on Monday.
