Rescuers scramble to save nearly 70 skiers after gondola suddenly malfunctions

A group of nearly 70 skiers had to be rescued after a gondola stalled at an upstate New York ski resort.

The Northwoods gondola at Gore Mountain, a popular skiing destination in the Adirondack Mountains, experienced a mechanical issue Wednesday morning, Gore Mountain wrote on its website.

The resort confirmed that a standard evacuation was carried out after the lift suddenly stopped in its tracks.

Officials said approximately 67 guests were inside roughly 15 gondola cabins at the time of the evacuation.

Footage of the rescue showed skiers being lowered to the ground from their gondola cabins with cables and wires, as onlookers watch on.

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Officials said the gondola stalled due to a “non-emergency mechanical alignment matter involving one component of the lift system” and that it was “stopped immediately.”

“Our trained mountain operations and ski patrol teams carried out the evacuation, and guests were supported throughout the process,” officials added.

All guests were helped to the ground, and there were no reported injuries.

“I came to ski here today but there’s been a tough situation here at Gore with gondola down and a pretty massive evacuation going down,” skier Linda Clark told NEWS10 ABC.

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The rescue took about two hours to carry out and required the use of ropes and cables, according to the report.

“We were here about 9 a.m., gondola opens at 8:30, and those people that got the first runs of the day were the ones stuck on the gondola,” skier Jim Chorman told the outlet.

All guests were rescued from the gondola cabins by 2 p.m.

The gondola reopened Thursday morning, Gore Mountain wrote in a statement on its website.

“Thank you to our mountain operations crews for their hard work and to our guests for your patience and understanding as we worked to safely resume operations on the gondola,” the ski resort said.