Skiers stuck on lift at Nordic Valley during power outage

EDEN, UT — Skiers at Nordic Valley were trapped on the Apollo lift for about 25 minutes on Thursday after the resort lost power.

Rocky Mountain Power said the power outage was planned, but resort officials disagree. They said that skiers wouldn’t have been stuck on a lift if they’d known that power was going to be shut down.

“With a little bit of heads up, we could have done a lot of things,” said Nordic Valley General Manager Brandon Fessler, “but we didn’t have that heads up, we had people on lifts.”  

The resort lost power around 10:30 a.m. and it wasn’t restored until 2:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. 

The outage was planned so that Rocky Mountain Powe could repair a power pole that was impacted by a car accident, said to Rocky Mountain Power. The utility said that automated voice messages were sent to several resort phone numbers at 8:30 a.m. notifying them of the planned outage. 

Mechanics at the resort got the lift going again with help from the backup generators. Employees were at the top and bottom of the lift to explain what had happened. 

“We have awesome, awesome guests, so everybody was understanding,” Fessler said. 

The resort offered skiers a “snow check,” allowing them to return anytime during the season free of charge. 

“I’m incredibly proud of the response and incredibly proud of our guests. Our guests are superstars and were completely understanding, our staff was able to take care of them … I’m proud of what happened today,” Fessler said. 

Contributing Writer, Emerson Oligschlaeger

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