The 25-year-old was heading up the hill for a second downhill ride about 11.40am on Monday when the chairlift came to a stop. He was due to start an afternoon work shift at the time.
“You know, I was just thinking it was going to be five minutes, but then another five minutes goes by and another,” he said.
Chambers estimated about 20 to 30 people were stuck on the chairlift.
It was a quite strange reason to be late to work, so he sent a video in to show his predicament.
“I just needed to show I wasn’t lying. Like I’m really stuck up here,” he said.
“It was pretty annoying, but it would of been worse if it was raining or something.”
Park staff were apologetic over the intercom as they attempted to get the chairlift moving again.
Chambers could see staff, and later a maintenance crew, inspecting the chairlift’s pylons.
As the minutes passed by, confusion turned to frustration, particularly for the group of teenage boys in the chair behind Chambers.
“The kids were yelling about what’s going on and why is it taking so long. It was kind of funny.”
Once the stranded chairlift users arrived at the cafe, they were offered free food and drink.
“Everyone was pretty frustrated so they all got really into their free food and stuff,” Chambers said.
Park general manager Anne Newman said chairlift faults are uncommon, but they can occur from time to time.
“We appreciate the patience and understanding shown by our guests while our team worked to safely restore operations.”
She said there were number of “unexpected lift faults” which caused the chairlift to stop.
“A chairlift is a highly complex piece of machinery, and our team worked closely with Doppelmayr technicians, who were on the phone with us throughout the incident, to help identify and resolve the issue as quickly and safely as possible.”
Newman said the health and safety of guests was always the park’s top priority.
