Sunday River (ME) chairlift evacuation

[MaineSkiLady]

https://www.wmtw.com/article/hundre...nction-sunday-river-maine-ski-resort/46912281

Hundreds of people evacuated by rope after ski lift malfunction at Maine ski resort​

It took a couple of hours to get everyone off the lift at Sunday River Thursday​

NEWRY, Maine —
More than 200 people were evacuated by rope after the Aurora Quad ski lift at Sunday River malfunctioned Thursday morning.

Resort officials tell Maine's Total Coverage that the lift operator noticed a mechanical issue at 11:09 a.m. and stopped the lift. Within 10 minutes, Sunday River Patrol, with lift operators and Mountain Hosts, started a rope evacuation of people from the chairlift.
The resort says the evacuation and inspection was done by 1:46 p.m. and that everyone was safely taken off the lift.

That lift has an uphill capacity of 284 people and was 85 percent loaded at the time of the issue. That means there were about 240 people on board.

Julie Palombo Wallace of Massachusetts shared a picture with Maine's Total Coverage of her 9-year-old daughter Kylie being lowered to safety. Wallace and her family have a condo close to the ski resort. She said she was very thankful to everyone who worked to get people off the lift.

"I just closed my eyes and pretended nothing was happening," Kylie Wallace said.

Greg Wallace, Kylie's dad was with her on the lift.

"We were just, you know, nervous. We've never been evacuated off a chairlift before, so

I was trying to keep Kylie happy and not too nervous, but I was pretty nervous myself," Greg Wallace said.

Sunday River said the chairlift will remain on hold as lift mechanics inspect the mechanical issue. Friday morning, the resort said the Aurora Quad was still on hold. To help offset that, the Jordan Mountain Double and the Quantum Leap Triple opened early.

Sunday River said Lower Airglow, Celestial, and Supernova were closed Friday, but Northern Lights, Lower Vortex, Paradigm, and Sensation remained open.

Sunday River said the lift did go through a daily inspection and passed all checks before opening at 8 a.m. Thursday.

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Anyone who is familiar with this lift can appreciate ski patrol's efforts, as this chair goes over some rugged terrain at the 1/3 point.

Glad everyone is safe.

 

[mustski]

Gah! That right there is the stuff which keeps me awake at night. Having to rappel down, for someone with a fear of falling, is the stuff of nightmares.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Being familiar with the place, I really can't imagine a worse chairlift to need evacuation than this one, given the kind of terrain it goes over. It's not particularly high off the ground in many places, but there is a steep ravine off to the left (going uphill) that is....scary... And no ski run below the chair at this point.

Hats off to ski patrol, great job - and to the 240 on board who kept their cool (if literally...). NO mishaps or injuries. Looks like the chair may have deroped, or started to derope, at a lower sheeve train. Also great shutdown procedure.

 

[shadoj]

Gah! That right there is the stuff which keeps me awake at night. Having to rappel down, for someone with a fear of falling, is the stuff of nightmares.

Understood!
As ski patrol, we train for this stuff every year. Patrollers get evac'd first, too, so ride with us on sketchy lifts!
It's a little scary at first, but slow and smooth and safe. Fearful folks get to go first, so not to be stranded alone on the lift. We'll talk to you and take care of you!

Also, hope you never have to deal with this if you don't want to.

Shoutout to all the ops that got everyone down safely at Sunday River!

 

[MissySki]

Being familiar with the place, I really can't imagine a worse chairlift to need evacuation than this one, given the kind of terrain it goes over. It's not particularly high off the ground in many places, but there is a steep ravine off to the left (going uphill) that is....scary... And no ski run below the chair at this point.

Hats off to ski patrol, great job - and to the 240 on board who kept their cool (if literally...). NO mishaps or injuries. Looks like the chair may have deroped, or started to derope, at a lower sheeve train. Also great shutdown procedure.

Not that I’d really want to right now, but the trail under the Aurora chair would have been skiable if necessary .. people were skiing it after coming out of the woods the previous weekend when I rode up it. You could also pop into Celestial and ski in the trees instead.. Neither would have been a top choice for me overall right now conditions wise, but at least it’s all covered with snow.

I saw some videos of people being repelled down on Facebook, and it honestly didn’t look that bad. I’m sure it would be scarier when you are the one on the chair ready to be lowered, but it didn’t seem as horrible as I’d imagined.

Great job by ski patrol getting everyone to safety!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

I stand corrected. A run called "Snow Bowl?" runs beneath the Aurora quad for much of its length, with Celestial glade to the east. I don't even recall this run? (duh) However, I sure wouldn't have wanted to be above the boulders next to Upper Airglow, which are likely bare this year! I've been stopped at that point but the chair resumed. (phew)

 

[denifromtheblock]

Wow glad I wasn't at Sunday River!

 

[Chuyi]

Brian head too

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