Over 1,400 stranded in mountains at Niigata ski resort due to strong wind+
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[February 25, 2006]

Over 1,400 stranded in mountains at Niigata ski resort due to strong wind+

(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)NIIGATA, Feb. 26_(Kyodo) _ Strong wind led to a suspension of operations of a gondola line at a ski resort in Yuzawa, Niigata Prefecture, on Saturday evening, leaving about 1,450 people stranded at a rest house on a mountainside, but no one was hurt and all of them descended by Sunday morning.



About 80 people were also left stranded in 12 gondolas when operations were suspended at around 9 p.m. Saturday at the Gala Yuzawa ski resort. All on the gondolas were able to return to the foot of the mountain within about three hours as the cars were brought during periods when the wind subsided.

Police said one woman complained of nausea but did not have to be hospitalized.



The gondolas transport passengers between Gala Yuzawa station of East Japan Railway Co. at the foot of the mountain and a gondola terminal on a mountainside. The rest house is located adjacent to the terminal.

According to resort officials, the gondola line started reducing speed just before 4 p.m. when many skiers typically start descending. Operations were stopped at around 9 p.m. when wind velocity reached 72 kilometers per hour.

Full operations were resumed just past midnight, bringing down a majority of those stranded at the rest house by 3 a.m. Sunday, and the remaining 100 or so people descended by around 8 a.m.

One of the stranded people, 26-year-old Fumihiro Matano who came from Tokyo to snowboard with friends, said, "We waited for more than three hours outside in the cold and we and the people around us were irritated because we didn't know what was going on."

The ski resort, accessible within two hours from Tokyo station by train, decided not to open for business on Sunday due to the problems on Saturday.

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