“I didn’t have a phone, a light or anything. I screamed desperately until I lost my voice.” -Monica Laso
A woman spent 15 hours overnight in a gondola at Heavenly Ski Resort after what must have been a miscommunication by resort employees.
KCRA3 reports Monica Laso was getting tired at the end of a day of skiing and approached a worker and told them she was too exhausted to ski to the base. The worker guided her to the gondola to download to the bottom of the hill. She got entered the gondola at around 4:58 p.m. and then two minutes later, it stopped, leaving her alone and stranded.
Laso’s friends reported her missing to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office when they could not get ahold of her. It wasn’t until the gondola started working again Friday and went back down the mountain that crews realized she had been there overnight. South Lake Tahoe Fire and Rescue assessed and treated Laso before releasing her.
Heavenly Mountain Resort is investigating how this could have happened.