Stuck for 15 hours in a gondola at a ski resort in Lake Tahoe, California, she screamed for help until she lost her voice before being found the next morning when the resort opened.
When she planned her ski trip with her friends, Monica Laso never thought she would spend a night in the cold waiting to be released from a gondola, but that’s what she experienced last Thursday in Heavenly station.
Shortly before 5 p.m., the woman told an employee that she felt too tired to complete her descent and was directed to the gondola. However, it stopped after two minutes, leaving Monica Laso alone and trapped, reported local news channel KCRA.
“I didn’t have a phone or light or anything,” she said in Spanish, adding that she screamed every time she saw an employee downstairs, but no one heard her.
She indicated that she found the time long due to the cold. To beat the cold, she rubbed her hands and feet.
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The woman was finally found Friday morning when the gondola began operating again.
The South Lake Tahoe Fire Department was called to the scene to evaluate and treat Monica Laso.
According to Fire Department spokesperson Kim George, this is the first time firefighters have had to respond to a situation like this in 20 years.
Heavenly Ski Resort said in a statement sent to KCRA that it had opened an investigation to understand what happened.