Skiers Evacuated from Lutsen Ski Lift
Saturday January 17th skiers and snowboarders were evacuated from the Raptor Express lift at Lutsen Resort. With high winds gusting at 30+mph along the North Shore after much appreciated snowfall, ski areas along Minnesota's north shore saw lift closures intermittently through out the weekend. If you aren't familiar with the layout of Lutsen's lifts, Raptor Express crosses over multiple roads and is a six person chairlift that was built in 2023. Raptor's evacuation was a multi step process involving resort and fire department teams in order to safely remove guests from the lift. Over 50 chairs holding guests were evacuated either by resort teams over the trails, or the fire department over roadways.
The lift malfunction was caused by a chair entering the terminal sideways where it became stuck. Thankfully, due to the efforts of the fire department, resort operations and ski patrol teams all guests were safely evacuated from the chair. Due to the complicated nature of evacuating over both ski runs and roads, this took multiple hours and a lot of team work.
While they wait for parts to repair the chairlift, Raptor Express will remain closed. In it's place the resort will be running the double chair, Bridge Double. Hopefully the lift is back up and running in a matter of days and the winds of Lake Superior stay on the mellow side to complete repairs and offer a less extreme wind chill for skiers and riders. For updates keep an eye on Lutsen's Mountain Report.
Photos: Malachi Wunderlich via Facebook
