Fifty-nine individuals were evacuated, one of whom was hospitalized for cold exposure, after a chairlift at the Dartmouth Skiway malfunctioned on Jan. 29, according to NBC Boston. The incident prompted an emergency response from the Dartmouth Ski Patrol and several Upper Valley fire departments.
According to Skiway director Mark Adamczyk, the malfunction was caused by a failure in the lift’s hydraulic braking system that prevented the lift from being restarted mechanically. Factoring in dropping temperatures and the approaching sunset, Ski Patrol initiated a rope evacuation, in which patrollers lowered riders individually from the chairs using pre-installed rope systems, Adamczyk said.
All 59 riders were evacuated from the lift within approximately 90 minutes and taken to a medical triage area set up in the Skiway lodge, Gilbert said. One individual was transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center for further treatment, primarily due to cold exposure.
The Dartmouth Ski Patrol is a student- and community-run organization with approximately 60 student patrollers and 10 community members. The patrol provides emergency medical care and rescue services at the College’s Skiway in Lyme, N.H.
Leonardo Hernandez ’29, a skier who was evacuated from the lift, estimated that he waited about an hour and a half to be evacuated, during which Ski Patrol members communicated regularly with riders over megaphones.
“They were the sweetest people ever,” Hernandez said. “[Ski Patrol] was talking me through it … If anything, it just makes me want to go back.”
Hernandez said he was checked by medical personnel and given hand warmers after being evacuated from the lift. Despite the malfunction, Hernandez said the “urgency that [Ski Patrol] showed” increased his confidence in safety at the Skiway.
Hanover Fire Department chief Michael Gilbert said his department assisted with medical care and rescue operations, alongside the Lyme Fire Department, the Thetford Fire Department and the Ski Patrol. Other lifts at the Skiway were closed to redirect Ski Patrol and mountain operations staff to the evacuation effort, Gilbert said.
Gilbert explained that while Hanover Fire does not specialize in ski lift rescues, many of its personnel are trained in rope rescue and supported Ski Patrol members in evacuating skiers.
“[Ski Patrol] had the appropriate equipment and the training to deal with specific rescue,” Gilbert said. “We went up there and assisted them with that and … transporting, triaging the patients that came off the chairlift.”
According to Adamczyk, chairlift evacuations are extremely rare at the Skiway, which conducts daily mechanical checks and undergoes a full inspection by the state Tramway Board each fall. Following repairs, the lift underwent an additional inspection by the Tramway Safety Board and reopened on Jan. 31.
“This is the first time it’s happened in my tenure at the Skiway … and to my knowledge there hasn’t been a rope [evacuation] either, ever, or at least in the last 20 years,” Adamczyk said.
Ski Patrol assistant director Abigail Headstrom ’26 and director Jacob Schnell ’26 declined to comment.
