Rope Evacuation Required After 2 Chairs Collided at Big Sky Resort, MT

An emergency rope evacuation was required at Big Sky Resort, Montana, on Wednesday, April 17, when two chairs on the Shedhorn lift collided due to a mechanical issue. 

“Witnessed the second chair slide back across the cable onto the first chair morning of April 17th. Hope everyone’s alright and that big sky got everyone off to lift in a timely manner. Saw this and said nope – a large group trekked a mile back up to the skittles road cat track.”

– Reddit user retailarbitrage

The incident, first reported on LiftBlog, occurred around 11:40 a.m. Lift maintenance and ski patrol quickly responded, and the evacuation was completed by 2:00 p.m. Some guests chose to hike a mile out of the remote Shedhorn area on the backside, south-facing side of Big Sky Resort.

• Related: Big Sky Resort, MT, to Add Longest 8-Chair in the World

That morning, Big Sky reported 14″ of fresh snow, 16″ in the previous five days, and a 61″ base. The resort plans to stay open until April 28.