NEWRY, Maine — Almost 250 people were evacuated from the Aurora Quad chairlift at Sunday River Resort Thursday morning after a watchful lift operator spotted a mechanical issue and shut down the lift.
According to Sunday River communications manager Ellen Wainwright the Aurora Quad has an uphill capacity of 284 and at the time of the mechanical issue the lift was 85% loaded (quick math approx 240 guests).
Thats a lot of folks to evacuate safely and The Sun Journal reports some skiers waited nearly 2 hours before Mountain Operations Team were able to belay them to the ground. No injuries were reported.
The mechanical issue has not been identified officially by the resort but skiers who were at the scene suggested that a cable slipped off the rollers near the bottom of the lift. Sunday River officials are investigating the cause.
The Aurora chairlift will remain on hold while inspections are made and will resume operation once it passes all safety protocols.