SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — A woman was rescued from a ski gondola at Heavenly Mountain Resort after being stuck inside for 15 hours.
Monica Laso was rescued after staying the the gondola overnight, according to resort spokesperson Cole Zimmerman.
Laso boarded the gondola around 5 p.m. Thursday to ride down the mountain because she was too tired to snowboard. She was rescued around 8:30 a.m. Friday.
“The safety and wellbeing of our guests is our top priority at Heavenly Mountain Resort," said Tom Fortune, VP and COO of Heavenly Mountain Resort and the Tahoe Region in a statement to ABC10. "We are investigating this situation with the utmost seriousness."
Kim George, battalion chief and spokesperson for South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue, told The Associated Press that El Dorado County Sheriff's Office deputies requested paramedics around 8:30 a.m. Friday after the woman was discovered.
The overnight low temperature was 23 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Despite the cold temperatures, George says the woman was responsive and alert and declined to be transported to the hospital.
In her 23 years with the fire department, “we’ve never responded to anything like that,” said George. “I’m very curious to hear the story.”
The sheriff's office did not respond to a request for comment Saturday. No other information is known at this time.
