A snowboarder visiting a California resort survived freezing temperatures after accidentally getting stuck in a gondola overnight.
Monica Laso’s story, as she told it to NBC affiliate KCRA, vividly illustrated how suddenly and unexpectedly leisure trips can turn into near-death experiences.
Laso said she had gone to the Heavenly ski resort in Lake Tahoe, California, to get some time snowboarding on the slopes. She had boarded the gondola at about 5pm PT on Thursday when she was tired and wanted help down a hill – and she ended up trapped there for about 15 hours when the gondola suddenly stopped.
Laso, who did not have a cellphone with her, was unable to call for help. She tried screaming to workers on the ground, but no one below was able to hear her, so she was left alone and stranded.
“I screamed desperately until I lost my voice,” Laso said to KCRA in Spanish. She also said: “I didn’t have a phone, a light or anything.”
Laso’s friends reported her missing to the El Dorado county sheriff’s office in Placerville. Police were unable to get in touch with her.
Laso said she was forced to rub her hands and feet to keep warm.
The temperature overnight was 23F, or -5C, the Associated Press reported. Those conditions are cold enough to be deadly to anyone exposed to them for a prolonged period.
Laso was not found until the next morning, when the gondola began moving and ski officials realized she had been stuck inside overnight.
“I felt very frustrated,” Laso said to KCRA.
Laso underwent a physical evaluation by paramedics from the South Lake Tahoe fire and rescue department when she was discovered on Friday. She declined to be taken to an area hospital after showing that she was responsive and alert.
The vice-president and chief operating officer of the resort, Tom Fortune, said in a statement that the property’s management is investigating how Laso became trapped.
“The safety and wellbeing of our guests is our top priority at Heavenly mountain resort. We are investigating this situation with the utmost seriousness,” Fortune said in a statement shared with the Guardian.
A spokesperson for South Lake Tahoe fire and rescue, Kim George, told the AP that in her 23 years with the department, the agency had never dealt with a case like Laso’s.
“We’ve never responded to anything like that,” George said. “I’m very curious to hear the story.”
