CHEWELAH, Wash. — 49 Degrees North Ski Area in Chewelah is closing one of its lifts for the remainder of the season after a mechanical failure. A separate issue caused a chair to separate from a different lift.
The resort said lifts are getting routine maintenance and safety is its top priority.
Chair separates from lift
A KREM 2 viewer sent video from Saturday, Feb. 16 that showed a chair separated from the Chair 1 lift, the resort's main lift from the base lodge.
KREM viewer Jamie Lunt said she watched the chair fall off the lift with people on it, as the chair reached the midway pickup point, where people can get on the lift. All of the people are safe.
"Your chairlift fears are now a reality!" Lunt wrote on Facebook.
According to 49 Degrees North spokesperson Emily McDaniel, the chairs are made to be detachable in emergency situations, and the chair detaching was "kind of just a fluke thing."
"They are made to come off just in case there is a problem with a chair or line," she said. "Nothing could have really prevented that -- it just happens occasionally. Definitely not anything to be worried about. The whole situation was not ideal but it was in control."
McDaniel said crews worked to get the chair back up and running, and the lift is 100 percent safe.
Chair 4 closed for season
A separate issue caused 49 Degrees North to take its Chair 4 lift out of rotation for the rest of the season.
A couple on the lift broke last week, causing staff to evacuate Chair 4, also known as the Silver Load lift, McDaniel said.
According to 49 Degrees North owner John Eminger, staff are unable to safely repair the Silver Load lift or acquire a part to repair it. This comes as the ski area is running at max capacity to keep the resort functional during record-breaking snowfall.
It will also take upwards of 12 weeks to make a replacement part, according to Eminger.
A lift manufacturer said the part failure was not caused by human error, Eminger said. He added that it is not uncommon for the specific part to fail.
Eminger said the Sunrise Quad and Angel Peak lifts will be moved in a more “aggressive operational schedule” for the spring season. Spring skiing and riding on these lifts will be a new experience for many customers.
“Thank you all for your patience and understanding, here’s to a wonderful spring of skiing!” the ski area wrote in a Facebook post.
Visit the 49 Degrees North website for an update lift and operations schedule.