A frightening start to 2022 for 21 people in the United States: 19 employees of an Aluquerque restaurant and two employees of the Sandia Peak cable car were stuck at an altitude of 3,000 meters in the middle of a snowstorm and with temperatures below - 4 degrees.
The group from Ten 3, a restaurant on the top of Sandia Peak, had just finished work. Everyone was preparing to return to Albuquerque to celebrate the arrival of the new year with families and friends.
They took the cable car but, when they reached the second pylon, the cabins stopped. Snow and ice, according to what was reconstructed by the plant operators, accumulated on one of the cables which collapsed and blocked the plant.
Amber Santos, one of the 21 unfortunates, told live what was happening on Instagram. While his colleague Colleen Edvige, has published photos of the group in surrender to the rescue.
It took over eight hours for rescuers to arrive. The 21, with the situation that gradually became more and more dramatic and the temperature plummeting further, they shared water and energy bars. And luckily the cabin was equipped with emergency blankets.
It was only after 4 o'clock that the rescue teams arrived on the scene, but it took another four hours for them to climb the slope and reach the cabin. From there, with a system of ropes, people abseiled one at a time.
So much fear, in short, and a New Year's Eve spent stuck at high altitudes. But at least they were home for lunch. And this is the important thing.
