Save Yourself!

Early in my ski industry career, I was working at a small western ski area when I learned a lesson in the importance of self-evacuation. I was riding a lift just after a storm had blown through that was trailing vicious, 60-mph east winds. The winds triggered a series of unfortunate mishaps, beginning with the derailing of the lift I was on. The power went off next and, to top it off, the auxiliary engines wouldn’t start.

There were about 80 passengers on the lift, including half of the eight ski area employees trained in lift evacuation. In order to launch a full-scale evacuation, three of us had to self-evacuate, after which we joined the other trained rescuers and removed the passengers from the lift quickly and safely.