DAVIS - Two people were taken to a hospital after a mechanical ski lift failed at Timberline Four Seasons Resort in Davis Saturday morning.
The incident, which involved the ski lift Thunderstruck, left 100 or so people stranded on the lift for about an hour, said Sandy Green, chief of the Canaan Valley Volunteer Fire Department. Others fell from the lift, authorities said.
Ski patrol treated some people for minor injuries at the scene, said Joe Stevens, a spokesman for the West Virginia Ski Areas Association. Two others were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Green said.
Volunteer fire departments from Canaan Valley, Davis and Harman as well as emergency workers from Tucker and Randolph counties and the West Virginia State Police responded to the incident.
"It sounded like a much bigger event than it turned out to be," Green said.
Kendra Curran, a spokeswoman for the resort, said nine people were evaluated for injuries. Two were transported to a hospital and seven others were cleared in the field, she said.
A helicopter was also dispatched to the scene as a precaution at the request of ski patrol, Stevens and Curran said. No one was air-lifted from the scene, they said.
The cause of the incident is under investigation. In a statement, the resort said its lifts go through inspections and are in compliance with safety standards.
"Daily maintenance checks are performed each morning by resort staff, and ski patrol rides the lifts and completes a visual inspection of Timberline's lifts before they are opened to the public," the statement said. "The resort maintains a mechanic on staff for routine service.
"In our 30 year history, Timberline has never had a lift failure resulting in injury or in any way comparable to today's malfunction, and the resort will continue to investigate the cause of this incident to ensure the safety of our skiers."