KEWASKUM, Wis. — On Saturday, chairlift 1 got stuck at Sunburst Ski and Snowboard in Kewaskum, trapping 14 people after a power outage caused by down trees.
On social media, several people asked why Sunburst Ski and Board Area doesn't have a backup generator in case of an emergency. TMJ4 News brought this question to the Hill's management.
General Manager Jason Wood said, despite the chatter online, a backup generator isn't something his team wants to spend $50,000 to $100,000 on.
"Could you run a backup generator? Yes, but it's not really a feasible option," he said. "Because there are so many other systems involved that it's not just simply plug in a backup generator. You would have to have very specific generators for each one."
He said that after the power outage, their team had to use an auxiliary motor as backup, which then failed because the padded plates on the machine wore out.
Watch: Sunburst Ski Area explains why backup generator isn't feasible after 14 skiers rescued from stuck chairlift
"These are tested single month; unfortunately, it was a partial failure," Wood said. "You can't even know ahead of time that that part is going to fail."
The ski patrol team jumped into action on Saturday. It was Brayden Stenz's first time working with the patrol team. They used a rope machine to pull people down one by one.
Then the Kewaskum Fire Department came to help speed the process up, and the Washington County Sheriff's Dept. also responded.
"Everybody was staying pretty calm. I didn't see anyone who was scared of getting down from it. It worked out pretty well," Stenz said. "I would say it got done pretty quickly. The Fire Department definitely made it a lot quicker because we didn't have enough people, but it worked out pretty good, everybody was able to get down safely."
He and Wood said it took about an hour to get the 14 people down.
The temperature was 25 degrees, so skiers and snowboarders weren't too cold.
Wood said they've replaced the worn-out plates and plan to reopen this weekend after testing it all week.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
