An experienced Kiwi skier said she "feared for [her] life" after becoming stuck on a chairlift as it was battered by violent gusts exceeding 70kmh.
Videos on social media show a chairlift, with Stephanie Burt and her friend Barnaby Dunning onboard, being thrown about by gusts of wind during a 40-minute ordeal on Thursday.
The pair had been skiing at the Cervino ski resort in Italy earlier this week when visibility started to dip towards the end of their stay, the Daily Mail reports.
They had used the ski lift earlier in the day with no concerns so jumped on board, with no suggestion from staff it was unsafe to do so.
Five minutes into the journey, before reaching the top, the lifts were deactivated after wind speeds exceeded 70kmh.
The friends, along with another rider in the chairlift behind them, struggled in the wind.
"Our bottoms were off of the seats, we were holding onto the front bubble and literally swinging in mid-air," Burt said.
"The only reason I'm alive is because I was there with Barnaby, who weighs 100kg and could hold it down. At one stage, my ski was up over my shoulder."
Video footage on social media shows the chairlifts swinging and spinning in the wind, with the two occupied lifts threatening to collide.
Burt, 47, recalled the "harrowing" screams of the skier behind her as the wind shook his chairlift.
“It sounded like he was falling to his death. The fear of God was put into me in that lift.
"It was the most frightening experience of my life.”
The man jumped from the chairlift, telling police he feared for his safety. He was later airlifted to hospital.
The mother-of-two said she had considered jumping herself.
"We thought we were going to be knocked off and killed, and discussed if it would be better to have broken legs or a broken pelvis and be alive [from jumping off] rather than being knocked off.
"I remember thinking to myself: 'I've just got to hold on'. I thought about my children, my husband. Barney said: 'Don't jump'."
About 20 minutes into the ordeal, workers from the resort came to their aid, climbing nine metres — without safety gear, Burt alleges, which the resort denies — up a chairlift pylon to fix the sensors, so the gondolas would move again.
Eventually the chairlift did make it back to the top, where Burt and Dunning were left to compose themselves after the shocking ordeal.
The pair said they had been left "traumatised" after the incident and want the resort to take responsibility for it.
"All I got from them was: 'I'm sorry you were scared'. There wasn't an ounce of sympathy, there was no 'that shouldn't have happened' - just that the chairs were 'operating within their limits'," Burt said.
"But if my nine-year-old had been on that lift, he would not be here today. If I had been alone on that lift I would not be here today to tell the story."
She said while she was aware conditions "can change very quickly", skiers are reliant on the staff and their technical knowledge to ensure their safety.
"They said they have been operating since 1936 and have never had a death. It came bloody close."
Burt vowed she would "never ski in Italy again".
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