5 people hurt after chairlift collision at Lake Tahoe ski resort

Five people were injured Monday when two chairs on a lift collided at Heavenly Mountain ski resort in Lake Tahoe, local media reported.

The incident occurred around 10 a.m. on the Comet Express chairlift, causing some riders to fall about 30 feet into the snow, according to NBC Bay Area. The accident happened days after 174 people were stranded in their gondolas for hours at the Winter Park Resort in Colorado.

One witness told NBC Bay Area they saw one of the chairs at Heavenly slide backward and crash into the chair behind it.

Heidi Schmitt, who was on the lift about 10 minutes before the collision, said she saw “about 15, quite a few EMT or all the red medics that were there surrounding someone.”

“My husband did notice the backpack hanging from the chairlift,” she told the news station.

Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District said it responded with two fire engines and three rescue ambulances. The five people were transported to a hospital in Reno, Nevada.

On Saturday, the chairlift system at Winter Park Resort in Colorado stopped just after noon when it detected a malfunction. Riders had to wait hours before Winter Park Ski Patrol brought them down individually.

One rider, Taylor Scotland, told NBC News affiliate KUSA of Denver that she and seven other people were stuck in their gondola for about four hours. Ski Patrol had to instruct people on how to rappel down to the ground, she said.

The resort said that the lift automatically stops when it detects an issue with the system. A broken piece of one of the towers was removed and a replacement part was installed on Sunday, the resort said. The repairs will be thoroughly tested and then inspected by the Colorado Tramway Safety Board. After that’s done, the lift can be re-opened.