Keystone-SDA
A cable car installation in Veysonnaz, in central Valais, broke down on Saturday. A few dozen passengers had to be evacuated. No one was hurt.
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December 28, 2024 – 6:31 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) “We were forced to evacuate customers, some by helicopter, following an electrical failure in the Veysonnaz gondola that occurred in the middle of the afternoon,” said a spokesperson for the NVRM ski lifts, contacted by Keystone-ATS . “At no time was the safety of our visitors affected by the outage. The decision to evacuate them was taken in order to avoid having to wait too long,” he said.
A few dozen users were affected. They will be contacted personally to thank them for their patience, added Nicolas Pillet, communications manager at NV Remontées mechanical SA. Other visitors to the ski area were invited to temporarily use the other Veysonnaz gondola and shuttles were put in place.
And to specify that “we are currently working to resolve the problem, to return it to service as quickly as possible. We hope to be able to open the facility normally on Sunday morning thanks to the work of our teams overnight to resolve the electrical problem that has already been identified.”
On the latter’s website, it is specified that it is the Veysonnaz-Thyon cable car, which provides access to the Ours piste. These are eight-seater cabins which connect the downstream station, at 1370 m, to the upstream station at 2121 m; it is therefore a gateway to the 4 Valleys ski area.
Images of the evacuation, notably by helicopters, can be seen on the Rhône FM or Blick sites. Located in the heart of the Veysonnaz resort, this gondola transports users through the isolated Mayens. The journey time is 8 minutes and the facility, built in 2005, can transport up to 1,600 people per hour.
