SnowNews

Strong Winds Cause Lift Chaos

Strong winds severed a cable carrying an empty gondola up one of Austria's most popular alpine ski slopes, sending the car crashing to the ground. Police said there almost certainly would have been deaths and serious injuries had anyone been aboard the gondola.

Empty Mountain Ski Gondola Falls after Cable Snaps

In Soelden rescue workers mounted a dramatic day-long operation to bring 113 skiers to safety after another gondola became stranded on a cable suspended high over the Soelden ski resort at around 3000 meters. The operation, which took place at nightfall in bitterly cold temperatures, lasted eight hours because the high winds prevented authorities from using a helicopter. Rescuers lowered stranded passengers down on ropes over 50 meters distance one at at time. No injuries were reported.



Strong winds were also blamed for the derailment of the drive cable of the Tignes Grande Motte cable car on Friday. 90 skiers had to be winched to safety via trap doors on the bottom of the car in an operation lasting 2h20.

Ninety evacuated from Tignes Cable Car

posted by davidof @ 10:40 AM