Heavenly’s North Bowl chairlift remains closed after Sunday evacuation

Heavenly Mountain Resort’s North Bowl chairlift remained closed Monday, a day after an unoccupied chair fell from the cable, forcing evacuation of skiers and snowboarders from the lift.

Kevin Cooper, senior public information officer for the resort, said the mountain operations team and mechanics were continuing their investigation and had not determined what caused the chair, or carrier, to come off the cable. He said there was no timeline for reopening the lift.

“The safety of our guests and our staff are of highest priority,” Cooper said.

The incident occurred at 10:58 a.m. Sunday. Cooper said the empty chair was descending the mountain when it fell from the cable. Operators immediately stopped the lift and the ski patrol conducted a rope evacuation, he said, lowering people from the chairs to the ground. Cooper said 65 people were evacuated from the lift. The process, he said, was completed within about two hours.

On Monday, 23 of the resort’s 28 chairlifts and ground tows were operating and 96 of the 97 runs were open, Cooper said. The North Bowl lift was the only chairlift not operating.

Heavenly Mountain Resort is owned by Vail Resorts Inc. of Broomfield, Colo.

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Heavenly’s North Bowl chairlift remains closed after Sunday evacuation."