Everything is working perfectly tonight at one of the region’s ski hills, but that wasn’t the case Wednesday night when a few dozen people were stranded on a lift.
At approximately 7:45 p.m., Wednesday, close to 70 people were stuck on a chairlift for close to an hour at Mount St. Louis Moonstone, located north of Barrie.
The cause was a broken bolt.
Oro-Medonte Township firefighters were initially called out to the Coldwater-area ski resort, but were told shortly after to stand down.
Mount St. Louis Moonstone general manager Robert Huter told BarrieToday that, after a quick evaluation, his workers said they could handle the issue.
“The broken bolt was in a very difficult spot, so what was believed to only take 30 minutes ended up taking an hour,” Huter said Thursday. “That said, we got it fixed and everyone was OK.”
Workers used torches to get the bolt out and have the lift operational enough to get people off.
According to OPP, at least one rider called 911 at 8:45 p.m.
Huter doesn’t blame people for being nervous, but says facility staff are more than qualified to handle any setbacks and always put the visitors first.
“We didn’t need to do a full-blown evacuation and were able to have our staff fix it, but if we needed to we would have,” Huter said. “Rider safety comes first, and despite the fact that there will be issues with any ski hill, when there are issues we will do what’s necessary to assist the riders.
“At the end of the day, we just want people to have a great experience and enjoy themselves on the slopes.”
