Posted on 01/05/2022 2:12:15 PM PST by CedarDave
Even in the best conditions, Benny Abruzzo admits that striding from one of the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway towers onto the top of a tram car is a “gulp” step.
But what if you have just climbed up that tower’s 80-foot ladder in slippery, frigid conditions in an effort to rescue 20 people who have been trapped in that car, dangling at an elevation of 8,750 feet, for hours.
“That tower was covered in six inches of ice,” said Abruzzo, 63, owner of the tramway, the Sandia Peak Ski Area and Sandia Peak’s TEN 3 restaurant. “I had to break the ice free of the rungs, and the winds are blowing it into your face so you turn into this big frozen thing.”
The people trapped in the car were 19 employees of TEN 3 and a tram operator. They were descending on the tram late Friday night when icy weather caused the tram cables to tangle, stalling the tram cars. Also trapped was a single tramway employee on his way up to the peak in another car.
Abruzzo and Paul Johnson, area manager of Sandia Peak Ski Area, started hiking up to the tramway’s No. 2 tower before dawn on Saturday. Abruzzo said they reached the tower some time between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. Abruzzo made that two-foot step from the tower onto the roof of the car and opened the hatch on the car’s roof.
He said the trapped passengers ranged in age from teenagers and those in their early 20s to people in their 50s. They were servers, bartenders, cooks, dishwashers and people in senior management.
Secured in a harness, they stepped one by one out of the tram car door and were lowered to the ground by rescue workers.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
Woke people would say he has “Competence Privilege”!
That seems to be the case. [from reading the article....]
LOL The Blackcomb-Whistler tram, which I rode about 35-40(?) years ago, did seem about that high off the ground.
Yes, they lower them. They are not rappelling.
We rode up the tram last March.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzgCUklGBCQ&t=270s
The elevation at the Ten3 restaurant is not the only thing high. It’s very upscale with New York and San Francisco prices without the crime. Dinner choices start at $29 and go above $50. Check out their menus at the link:
bttt
Indeed. Those things how ever seem prone to these incidents.
Damn, look at that small spot the chopper has to land on....wow
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