Yes, strandings do occur. Either it's a mechanical failure or it's a goof-up by seasonal staff who are mostly there to ski/party.

These days, there is cell service in any ski area I can think of. It's more or less mandatory (whadda ya mean I can't watch gootube and rebalance my stock portfolio in between runs? I've seen better service in Afghanistan ... etc. etc. blah blah).

So I think your odds of being forgotten and being incommunicado for an extended period are pretty darn low.

Unless you're right against a tower, notions of abseiling down using scarves and bootlaces are, frankly, a fast way to turn a 'rescue' into a 'recovery.' Leave that to the movies, where it apparently works.

Otherwise, if you've been there for more than 24 hours and have a PLB, or less and it's intensely cold, it's probably appropriate to hit the switch.

But consider also that when the runs shut down, there are almost always hard-core locals in the lower areas xc-skiing and snowshoeing, well into dawn and dusk. Generally, they fart in the direction of the ski-resort-types; but if you're flicking your little LED light in threes from a gondola, they'll call it in.

My $0.02.