Snowboarder trapped for around 15 hours in a ski gondola in Lake Tahoe

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — A woman became trapped overnight in a ski gondola in Lake Tahoe, California, on Thursday amid freezing temperatures.

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Monica Laso said she was too tired to snowboard down the mountain at Heavenly Ski Resort. So at around 5 p.m., she got onto a gondola to ride down. The gondola stopped a few minutes later while she was still in the air, KCRA reported.

Laso yelled for help but no one could hear her, the news outlet reported. She did not have her cellphone, according to The Associated Press.

“I screamed desperately until I lost my voice,” Laso told KCRA in an interview in Spanish.

According to the National Weather Service, the overnight low was around 23 degrees, the AP reported. Laso spent the night trying to keep warm.

Her friends reported her missing to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, KCRA reported. However, Laso was not found until the gondola began working again the next day.

Kim George, a battalion chief and spokesperson for South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue, told the AP that crews were called around 8:30 a.m. on Friday after Laso was found. Laso was responsive and alert but did not want to be transported to the hospital.

George said that in her more than 23 years with South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue crews have “never responded to anything like that,” according to the AP. “I’m very curious to hear the story,” she said.

Heavenly Mountain Resort said they are investigating how Laso became trapped, the AP reported.

“The safety and wellbeing of our guests is our top priority at Heavenly Mountain Resort,” said Tom Fortune, the resort’s vice president and chief operating officer, in a statement obtained by the AP.

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