The gondola at Stratton Mountain in Vermont will be closed this weekend and likely into early next week due to a maintenance issue, a problem that comes during one of the region’s busiest ski weeks of the year.
According to a social media post by Stratton Mountain officials on Friday morning, the resort’s lift maintenance team discovered an issue during routine maintenance checks this week. They reportedly decided they would not run the lift until it was fixed.
Resort officials said the problem is in the top terminal and is key to allowing the cabins to circulate around the terminal and return to the line to go back downhill. They said if it were to fully fail, the cabins would not be able to cycle through the top and resort staff would need to perform a rope evacuation.
While the resort keeps many parts on hand for maintenance and wear and tear, officials said there’s no ski area that is able to keep all of the extra parts on hand for every lift part, for every scenario.
“That just not practical,” stated the post, “and unfortunately this is one of those parts.”
Officials said the problem previously showed no indication all season long.
Resort staff are working with the manufacturer to get the part. As of yet, there is no estimate for when it will arrive. Officials said once the part arrives, it should only take a day to get the gondola back up and running.
Officials said it’s clear the gondola will not operate this weekend and likely into early next week.
The resort plans to have all other lifts running this weekend with 100 percent of Stratton’s terrain open, which, officials said, helps spread everyone out throughout the mountain.
