People winched from Tignes lift
Friday March 25, 2011 - Email this article to a friend

The main lift in Tignes le Lac, the Aeroski, broken down and people had to be rescued. Some were trapped for several hours.

The incident happened on Thursday morning in the high altitude French resort.

The bubble lift, which links Tignes with Val d'Isere, broke down shortly after 9am according to one of our reporters in the resort, James Timothy.

Three hours later people were still being winched off it and it remained closed for the rest of the day.

It is believed there was a mechanical failure that happened without warning.

Investigations were carried our and it has now been repaired and is working for the weekend.

Fortunately the weather was clear and sunny with little wind.

None of the people rescued were the worse for their ordeal but of course they missed some great skiing and snowboarding and there are far better things to do in Tignes than spend hours trapped in a lift!

The rescue operation certaily provided interest for those on the ground as people stopped to watch the activites and take photos.

An investigation is underway.

Winched to safety

There are remarkably few long lift breakdowns, but this one on America caught the attention of the media as a chair plummted to the ground in Sugarloaf Mountains last December.

8 people were injured.

A reporter from CNN was on the lift at the time andit was covered extensivley on the US network as the rescue operation swung into action.

In another incudent in Maine 160 people were trapped on a lift in February.

For the spirit of the mountains