BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. -- Imagine being stranded on a ski lift for two hours.
That's what happened to skiers when a power outage hit the Quicksilver SuperChair at Breckenridge yesterday.
Quinn Bader was in line at another ski lift when they shut it down too.
"I asked the woman running the lift what was going on," he said. "She told me they needed all hands on deck at the Quicksilver lift, because people had been stuck up there for about 45 minutes."
In a news release, ski area spokeswoman Sara Lococo said the power outage happened at approximately 12:20 p.m., and that the decision to begin evacuating passengers, by rope, was made just over an hour later, at 1:22 p.m.
"To facilitate the safe evacuation of those guests," she wrote, "several surrounding trails and chairlifts were closed."
Bader told Denver7 that he watched ski patrol personnel rescue several of the stranded passengers.
"I saw people climbing up with these big orange ropes," he said, "tying them to the lifts and bringing people down."
The Los Angeles resident added, "I was nervous. I can't imagine myself up there. It must have been crazy. It was like 9 degrees. The wind was whipping. I can't imagine being stuck up there for an hour."
According to the news release, Lift Maintenance was able to resume operation of the Quicksilver SuperChair at 1:52 p.m. and did so for evacuation purposes only.
That's when they ceased rope evacuations.
Ski area officials say safety is their highest priority, and that they will make sure the issue is resolved before the lift reopens to the public.
