Six people wearing yellow and blue ski suits are sitting in a ski lift.

Exercise provides peace of mind

Here Stöten staff train on lift evacuation

2025. Every now and then, the lift stops. Someone may have dropped a ski, the lift staff may have received an error message from the lift, or someone may have fallen while getting off. Usually the lift will be up and running again in no time, but staff must be prepared for the worst. If the lift stops for too long, passengers will need to be evacuated - and that's a task the evacuation team is always ready to tackle!

It's a cold Thursday evening and the lifts have closed for the day, but for the Stöten evacuation team the working day is far from over. The team, made up of more than 40 members of Stöten's workforce, gathers several times during the season to practice what they hope will never happen - the lift stopping and passengers needing to be evacuated.

Most of the team usually work in operations, such as in the ski school, lift or restaurant, while some work more administratively in the head office - but what they all have in common is that they have voluntarily chosen to become part of the evacuation team.

The Operations Manager is responsible for the group and for the smooth running of the evacuation exercises Sara Claesson. This is her first season in charge, but she has been committed to the work for a long time and the routines are now better than ever.

- "It's a stressful situation and a difficult challenge, but the most important thing in the event of an evacuation is to stay calm," says Sara.

Exercise provides peace of mind

The evacuation team is formed at the beginning of each season and is divided into two groups. One group becomes the “belayers” and is responsible for the work on the ground, while the other group becomes the “jumpers”. The “highers”, also known as 'gliders', are the ones who glide out on the wire to the lift chairs and talk to guests before securing and lowering them.

- It's not for the faint-hearted, perhaps, Sara laughs and continues:

- It requires precision, interaction and trust between everyone in the team. But you quickly become confident in what you're doing, which is precisely why we train so often. The more routine, the calmer you become if something happens.

Person wearing a yellow-blue ski suit and ski helmet with ski goggles smiles at the camera.

“An incredibly useful exercise”

There are two types of exercise for the team. A simple one, where they practice communication, safety procedures and how to move efficiently on the cable, and a more advanced one, where they practise a staged evacuation with “guests” sitting in the lift.

Today's exercise is of the more advanced kind. Darkness has settled over Stöten and the mountain is completely empty of guests when the first high climber starts to climb one of the Vargy Express masts. Wearing a full body harness and protective gear, she then swings herself along the wire to the nearest lift chair where two of her colleagues, impersonating guests, are waiting. After the passengers are fitted with safety ropes and given clear instructions, they are celebrated one by one down to the belayers who receive them on the ground. And so the work continues on to the next lift chair.

- "It's an incredibly useful exercise. Everyone gets to experience what it's like to work under pressure, but also how well it actually works when everyone knows their role in the work," says Sara.

Sara Claesson

Age: 23 years
From: Mollaryd in Västergötland but now lives in Sälen
Family: Husband David and skin Molly
Working as: Operations manager and plotter in Stöten
Number of seasons in Stöten: 4 years as a full-time employee
Favourite slope: ”The lower part of Älvan has become a favourite!”