The restaurant workers walked into the aerial tram car at about 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, their shifts complete, their moods festive, even with the lashing wind and heavy snow. Amber Santos stood beside the trash bins they had carried inside the car, which reeked of food leftovers from Ten 3, a restaurant at the top of Sandia Peak near Albuquerque, New Mexico.
As temperatures dipped into the mid-20s, the passengers resorted to rationing Life Savers gummies and six bottles of water as they spent the first few hours of 2022 waiting for rescue crews to arrive. Rescuers had to get to a tower, climb to the tram and set up a rope system to lower people to safety, he said. From there, they hiked with the passengers about 100 yards to a landing site where a helicopter whisked them away a few at a time.
Such a rescue was one that they had considered but never executed, he said, adding, “And we never expected it would be for 21 people in a snowstorm.” But then the temperature began to drop. At 12:57 a.m., it was 35 degrees. The passengers retrieved emergency blankets stored in the car and broke out hard pretzels and Life Savers gummies from their backpacks.
The wind swayed the car like a playground swing. At 3:49 a.m., they were bunched together, mostly silent, but still supportive of one another, Santos said. It was 24 degrees, and she continued to shiver, unable to sleep.