Ski Gondola Worker Shutdown Control System

Event Year: 2002 Reliability: Confirmed
Country: United States
Industry Type: Transportation
Description:

A 19-year-old woman faces felony charges for allegedly tampering with a public gondola system, causing a series of 33 shutdowns on the 2.5-mile line that shuttles thousands of people a day over a mountaintop at this ski resort.  Alisha Sult, an operator on the gondola system, was arrested New Year’s Day on three counts of endangering public transportation. Sult is suspected of allegedly tampering with a computer system that controls the gondola.

Impact:

Police were asked to investigate after a series of 32 shutdowns of the system over the three days, Mahoney said. Most were shorter than a minute. The shutdowns occurred December 26-28 during the Telluride Ski Resort’s busiest week of the winter season.

There were no evacuations from the gondola cars and no passengers were endangered, officials said Sunday. Snowmobiles were used to carry 40 people down from a mountaintop restaurant served by the line during the longest shutdown—1 hour and 20 minutes—on December 27.