Five people were hospitalized Monday after a chairlift appeared to malfunction on the Nevada side of Heavenly Mountain Resort in the Lake Tahoe region along both sides of the California-Nevada border.
The incident occurred in the early morning hours, with the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District responding to the scene at approximately 10:00 a.m. He sent two engines and three ambulances.
A fire department rescue statement said five people were hospitalized in Reno, Nevada.
Ski Patrol responded to the scene of a chairlift incident at Heavenly Valley Ski Resort (Stagecoach Lodge) in Tahoe, California on December 23, 2024.
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Three people suffered injuries directly related to a fall from the ski lift.
The chair they were riding on appeared to slide backwards, eventually hitting the chair behind them.
The length of the descent was estimated to be about 30 meters above the snow.
According to a recording of the 911 call obtained by Broadcastify, fire and rescue personnel described the victims as a 60-year-old man and a 71-year-old man. The first one was wearing a helmet when he fell, but lost consciousness.
The same recording identified the presence of a third injured person and mentioned the need for an air ambulance at the scene.
Although the cause of the incident is not yet known, the weather system hitting the West Coast over the weekend was responsible for producing strong winds in parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains, where a weather monitoring station was located at the highest point. Heavenly Mountain Ski Resort reported a 78 mph gust on Sunday, a day before the chairlift incident.
A spokeswoman for the ski property confirmed Monday that “an incident” had occurred on the Comet Express chairlift, saying, “The safety of our guests is our top priority and the resort is investigating the incident.”
