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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Rescue crew won’t leave you hanging

KELLOGG – Forgetting the rescue ropes isn’t always a bad thing.

It just made the practice evacuation drill Saturday at Silver Mountain even more realistic.

In the mock scenario, a drive line on the world’s longest gondola broke, stranding skiers and boarders in the cabins hanging from 3.2 miles of cables from the Gondola Base Lodge across Wardner Gulch and up to the Mountain Haus Lodge.

In 14 years, the gondola, which can transport 1,600 people per hour, has never broken down long enough to spark an evacuation. But that doesn’t mean a group of resort employees and volunteers don’t practice like it’s a realistic occurrence.

“Most people don’t even realize there’s a crew that does this,” said Ski Patrol Director David Bishop, who was the incident commander Saturday. “It’s like chairlifts. You get on them without thinking what happens if they stop.”

This year Silver Mountain has new equipment that rescuers can use to get to the gondolas, which can be anywhere from 60 feet to 200 feet above the ground. The Moots Unit, which resembles a cross between a bicycle and teeter-totter, has rollers that hook to the gondola cable. There’s also a bicycle seat where the rescuer can sit as they cruise down the cable to the gondola cabin.

Volunteer Travis Brown, dressed in camouflage fatigues, a black helmet and knee pads, climbed Tower 13 Saturday morning lugging several backpacks, the Moots Unit and a roll of duct tape, just in case.

The tower on the hillside closest to town, known as Brown’s Ranch, was near a cabin filled with two frozen 50-pound sandbags, which played the role of stranded humans.

Once on top, Brown clipped the Moots Unit onto the cable and carefully mounted the bicycle seat that hung about 60 feet above the grassy slope covered in dew and rocks. Brown released the hand brake, and the contraption zipped down the cable to the gondola cabin.

He gently stepped onto the green cabin roof, found his balance and secured himself to the gondola. Then he popped open the door to greet the stranded sandbags.

That’s when he realized he left the bag of rescue ropes on top of the tower.

“That’s a case of beer, buddy,” one member of the ground crew joked as Brown hung off the side of the gondola trying to come up with Plan B. He cheerfully took the friendly jabs and within less than a minute the team improvised. Brown lowered a rope to the ground and the crew attached the desperately needed bag full of rescue ropes.

“You know that’s kinda like real life,” Brown said. “That could really happen ‘cause it just did.”

That’s exactly why Bishop was having the practice evacuation, so the crews know what to do if the gondola ever malfunctions.

It takes the rescuers about 22 minutes to get all the people out of the cabins and on the ground, Bishop said. That’s from when the rescuer gets to the tower, hooks up the Moots Unit and lowers each passenger to the ground using ropes and a diaper seat. From there, the ground crew help visitors get to the nearest road where a snowcat hooked to a large passenger sled will take them either to the Mountain Haus Lodge on top of the mountain or to the base parking lot.

“We practice hard,” Bishop said, adding that people volunteer to do a job that’s physically challenging and susceptible to unpredictable weather conditions because of a drive to help others. “They need a good slap on the back because they are here.”

And they don’t volunteer for the free ski pass. Bishop said it’s a lot easier to pay $199 for the pass than commit to training every Tuesday and spending hours in the cold hanging off the gondolas and hiking through snow.

All resort employees, including clerical staff, have a part in the evacuation plan.

Before the evacuation call came across the radio Saturday morning, the crews assigned to cover the valley section of the gondola line stood around The Barn, which houses the gondola cabins, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes.

Soon the radio in Scottie Lewis’ front pocket crackled the official call – “This is a practice. This is a practice evac.”

The teams picked up their gear and huddled for a quick briefing.

“Don’t overextend yourself,” said Lewis, who drives a snow groomer for Silver Mountain. “If you get cold or tired, that’s when accidents happen.”

With those words of advice and reminders of safety, the teams headed for the hills.