21 restaurant staff trapped for 12 HOURS
in two freezing gondolas in New Mexico
have to be rescued from 10,000ft up during
dramatic New Year's Day airlift after
first having to rapell from the cable cars
Daily Mail (UK),
by
Edward Glazarev
&
James Gordon
Original Article
Posted By: Imright,
1/1/2022 11:29:13 PM
Restaurant workers who had finished their New Years Eve night shift at a mountaintop restaurant in New Mexico, were forced to spend their first night of 2022 huddled together in a cable car after it became stuck in the middle of the night as it was transporting them back down the 10,300ft mountain. Guests had all left the TEN 3 restaurant high up in Sandia Mountains in the early hours of Saturday morning leaving just 20 workers to be ferried back down to the ground to return to their homes. But just as they began their 15 minutes descent, the wintry conditions worsened forcing
Reply 1 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 1/1/2022 11:54:05 PM (No. 1025651)
I rode that cable car in 2012. It is a scary trip down under the best of circumstances.
22 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
DVC 1/2/2022 12:09:36 AM (No. 1025656)
A VERY impressive gondola ride.....I've taken it, like #1, and the span between cable supports amazed this structural engineer....and not a bit worried me, too. At some points you are VERY high over the ground.
17 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
DVC 1/2/2022 12:39:59 AM (No. 1025664)
OK, they moved the car to a tower, so it was only 85 ft to the ground. Still....a free rapell of 85 ft....going to be pretty exciting for folks who never did that before. I used to climb mountains and rapelling is how you generally get back down, so have done a lot of rapelling in past years. WAY easier to walk down a cliff face compared to a free rapell. Either works....just the free one seems scarier.
Looks like no fun at all.
23 people like this.
Use to work bridge construction. Walked the beams all day with 30 mph winds…now I’m scared to death of heights!!! No way I’m going down more than 8 feet on a rope! They would have to drug me and toss me out!
38 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
presty 1/2/2022 3:05:51 AM (No. 1025674)
Welcome to New Mexico !(well, not really new and not really Mexico). We’re not called the Land of Entrapment for nothing! And before you visit ABQ (or as the more effete residents like to call Albuquerque “the ‘bur que”) do check out how the homicide and homeless rates have skyrocketed in our little Democrat-run ciudad just like every other liberal lost world.
Yes, we are planning our escape and the current fav is Tennessee.
38 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
barbcrose 1/2/2022 4:01:36 AM (No. 1025675)
Looks like my job in the Michigan prison system might ne a little safer!
13 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
BirdsNest 1/2/2022 5:24:21 AM (No. 1025691)
I would have had to stay on the cable car til it thawed. What a terrible experience.
23 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Trigger2 1/2/2022 5:42:39 AM (No. 1025703)
I've been on that gondola. It was hair raising. Needless to say, I took another way back.
15 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
KevinSeattle 1/2/2022 7:39:08 AM (No. 1025757)
I've ridden that Tram but not in the winter. You can drive up to the top of the Sandia Mountains and arrive by the antenna farms. You can then hike across the crest to the restaurant and the Tram.
14 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
TCloud 1/2/2022 8:33:20 AM (No. 1025798)
Never did ride the Tram but did hike the La Luz Trail a number of times!
9 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 1/2/2022 8:42:03 AM (No. 1025809)
Thank God for such a rescue. The workers wee as brave as they were frightened. The mere idea of such a transport makes me queasy.
20 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Osprey21 1/2/2022 8:42:33 AM (No. 1025810)
That would be an eye opener for sure. In 2016 my wife and I were trapped overnight in a tram car on Mont Blanc in the French Alps when three cars got stuck. Talk about a memorable vacation.
17 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
BeatleJeff 1/2/2022 8:48:47 AM (No. 1025817)
I too have ridden that tram. Great views up there, but I'd hate to be stuck in a gondola for 12 hours.
17 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
starboard 1/2/2022 9:02:14 AM (No. 1025832)
What a frightening ordeal! I've lived in ABQ for 14 years and have never had the desire to go on the Tram or a Hot Air Balloon. Being suspended in air is not something I care to do.
14 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 1/2/2022 9:40:32 AM (No. 1025876)
Ah yes, Sandia Crest. I lived in Socorro full-time during my NM Tech days eons ago. We'd go to ABQ sometimes to find a beer joint and ride the gondola for something to do. Just rode it again last fall as the new restaurant had opened and we wanted to get to the hot air balloon fiesta. Beautiful on top. But, yeah, rapelling 85 feet back down to the ground at the point described in the article would certainly trigger some OMGWTHAIDH thoughts in one's mind especially if it was one's first time. The road to the top is a slow ride so explains why the workers don't normally drive to the top to report to work.
10 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Birddog 1/2/2022 10:31:44 AM (No. 1025929)
A couple of things appear buried in the story, but unclear in the way it was presented,
the Cars were heated,
ONE person was in a car alone, the rest in the other.
While they call it "Rappelling" the people were lowered by the built-in cable lowering system.
No mention about "Bathroom facilities" on the cars, but I'm guessing that as the sun came up EVERYONE needed to go.
8 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
mc squared 1/2/2022 10:52:45 AM (No. 1025961)
They'll be a be some babies born in October - all named Tramway. Just like the northeast blackouts.
4 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Zigrid 1/2/2022 10:56:25 AM (No. 1025964)
Here in the midwest...flyover country...WE are tough people...WE face freezing conditions many times during the winter months...but...in a gondola with howling winds all around ...I don't think I would feel comfortable...I hope they were all wearing masks and social distancing....or the FBI will arrest them when they land...
8 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
starboard 1/2/2022 11:59:25 AM (No. 1026027)
Better call Saul
6 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
cedar 1/2/2022 12:59:08 PM (No. 1026092)
Unlike #5, I love NM and will never leave. He/she mustn't be a native New Mexican and don't let him/her discourage you from visiting the state. There are many wonderful things to do and events to attend. The Tram is a unique experience. I'm glad those employees were safely rescued, and I would not have liked to be in their shoes on that icy winter night. We can see the beautiful Sandia Mountain every day. This morning, the Sandias looks like sugar frosted mountains.
6 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
janjan 1/2/2022 4:28:10 PM (No. 1026250)
I’d find another job.
3 people like this.
Ms squirrel's brother jumped off Sandia with a hang glider and hit an updraft that sent him playing with airplanes waiting to land at ABQ. I never said he was the smartest guy I know...
5 people like this.
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