A skier who was rescued after his backpack got tangled in the chairlift at Arapahoe Basin on January 4th, along with his rescuer will share their story on Ellen.


The skier, Richard from Broomfield, was very lucky to be on the slopes that day with his friend, Mickey Wilson, a professional slackliner.

[SEE THE RESCUE VIDEO]
You likely remember the pictures of Richard hanging by his neck off the chairlift after it became entangled. Wilson and two other friends were on the chair behind Richard. After A-Basin crews had shut down the lift, Wilson used his professional slackliner skills to climb down to his friend. Once Wilson got to his friend, he called to the Arapahoe Basin Ski Patrol on the scene for them to throw him a knife. He was able to cut then down his buddy who had been unconscious for around four minutes.

Richard has shied away from the national media spotlight but, according to the Denver Post, decided to share his story on Ellen to thank Mickey Wilson and the other rescuers.

Ellen always seems to have a trick, or trip in this case, up her sleeve. She gave each of them a seven-night trip to Hawaii.

You can watch the January 17th episode on Channel 9 in Denver.

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