Video shows skiers rescued from broken chairlift at New Hampshire mountain

By Tammy Mutasa

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    FRANCONIA, New Hampshire (WBZ) — Dozens of skiers had to be rescued from a broken chairlift on Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire Wednesday morning.

Mountain officials said a bolt attached to the power take off shaft failed, leaving 64 passengers stranded. It was just three days ago that a man fell 20 feet from a broken chairlift at another New Hampshire ski resort.

Dangling 25 feet above the snowy slopes of Cannon Mountain, hearts were racing. Stranded skiers like Rich Finnegan had to rappel from a rope out of their chair on the Peabody Express Quad Lift after the lift malfunctioned.

“You ultimately had to jump off the chairlift and we were a good 25 feet off the chairlift, so it was pretty dicey,” said Finnegan. “They told us, ‘The lift is broken, we’re going to get everybody down we’re going to throw a rope and have you rappel down’ and I was like rappel down?!”

Rich and his friend Phil were stuck in their chair for more than an hour and it was frigid outside.

“At that point we had been sitting up there in five degrees, I’m like I’m going to do anything right now to get off this chair so yeah gimme the rope lets go,” said Finnegan.

As snow patrol made their rounds, Phil knew he was in good hands.

“They did a great job communicating to us, they got to us in a timely fashion, we’re just thankful for all their efforts because mechanical things break,” said rescued skier Phil DeFeo.

It took almost two hours to get everyone down safely.

“We’re grateful nobody got hurt and everybody got safely rescued,” said DeFeo.

And some words of wisdom to all the winter revelers out there:

“Dress warmer than you think you need to because you never know if you’ll be stuck on a lift for an hour or more,” said Finnegan.

Cannon Mountain officials say all their chairlifts and equipment go through regular inspection and testing, but mechanical issue can happen.

All the guests Wednesday were offered a refund or credit for another visit.

Wednesday’s lift rescue comes just days after a man was hurt at the Attitash Mountain Resort when a ski lift chair he was on detached and fell 20 feet. It happened on the Flying Bear lift.

The man was assisted by Ski Patrol and transported to an area hospital where he was treated and released. No other injuries were reported.

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