On Friday afternoon, Deer Valley staff evacuated nearly 170 skiers from a stalled lift.
The Carpenter lift near the ski base area first stopped turning shortly after 2:30 p.m. When employees were “unable to get the chairlift moving again,” as described in a statement from the resort, they began helping people on chairs at 3:15. The last evacuees came down at 5:20.
“We sincerely apologize to our guests who were impacted by the chairlift failure today and thank them for trusting us to make the best decision for their safety by implementing our evacuation procedures,” the statement said.
Photos posted to social media show staff members suspended from lift towers and using rope systems to rappel skiers down from lifts. The statement also recognized and thanked the staff who helped evacuate people, including ski patrol, lift operators, ski instructors and other roles.
“We cannot thank you enough for all you did today, and every day,” it said.
Deer Valley said staff would repair the lift overnight in time to run Saturday morning, Christmas Day.