Chairlift accident

Brutal. That one dude at the end in the red that stays on until he gets to the pile of chairs at the end gets wrecked.
 
topic:SkiBum. said:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1650060/Video-Tourists-flung-ski-lift-terrifying-accident-Georgia.html

Anyone with social media has seen this by now. But fuck.

Surprised a major failur hasn’t happened yet in the states. Lift mechanics and lift maintenance are in shambles at lots of resorts.
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They have happened, the same thing happened to king pine at sugarloaf a few years ago. The difference being in that case a lifty hit the rollback brake where here it looks like the lift either didn’t have one or the operator bailed
 
13905072:north_coast said:
They have happened, the same thing happened to king pine at sugarloaf a few years ago. The difference being in that case a lifty hit the rollback brake where here it looks like the lift either didn’t have one or the operator bailed
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i remember this!
 
13905072:north_coast said:
They have happened, the same thing happened to king pine at sugarloaf a few years ago. The difference being in that case a lifty hit the rollback brake where here it looks like the lift either didn’t have one or the operator bailed
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i think something like that happened at whiffletree lift also
 
So the best course of action if you're on a chair is just to send er switch at a low spot yeah? Looks like that would be better to get t-hall'd than to get mangled or whipped off at the bottom.
 
Anyone remember when someone got their backpack stuck on a lift at a basin and some pro slack-liner was there and he walked on the lift wire to detach the backpack?
 
13905072:north_coast said:
They have happened, the same thing happened to king pine at sugarloaf a few years ago. The difference being in that case a lifty hit the rollback brake where here it looks like the lift either didn’t have one or the operator bailed
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Yeah they were lucky it didn’t turn out like this. I don’t remember exacts from that since it was a few years now. But I do remember sugarloaf getting hammered on lift maintnance and being up to snuff.

Lift mechanics should be highly trained and paid. Not industry standard now.

Elevators are highly regulated. Union works. Trained. Maintained.

Lifts, while in some cases inspected by elevator board, are far from the standard anywhere else.
 
13905105:NinetyFour said:
So the best course of action if you're on a chair is just to send er switch at a low spot yeah? Looks like that would be better to get t-hall'd than to get mangled or whipped off at the bottom.
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Get off asap and get as far away as you can.
 
The armchair lift mechanics on social media are killing my soul. So this happened in the country Georgia, I can only assume they don't have nearly as strict of a tramway board or safety standards for such a catastrophic failure to occur. Here in the states we do daily, weekly, monthly and yearly inspections and tests to prevent this from ever happening at this magnitude. Sugarloaf was a fluke and still not nearly as drastic as this and significant measures have been taken across the country to ensure it doesn't happen again. This lift had a failure of literally every safety to prevent a massive roll back and once the inertia of such a heavy machine builds up to that point, nothing will stop it until the weight equalizes on both sides of the lift. As a lift mechanic this makes me sick and I can only wonder about the level of incompetence that was going on there that day and during the maintenance cycle of that lift.
 
13905130:Daph said:
The armchair lift mechanics on social media are killing my soul. So this happened in the country Georgia, I can only assume they don't have nearly as strict of a tramway board or safety standards for such a catastrophic failure to occur. Here in the states we do daily, weekly, monthly and yearly inspections and tests to prevent this from ever happening at this magnitude. Sugarloaf was a fluke and still not nearly as drastic as this and significant measures have been taken across the country to ensure it doesn't happen again. This lift had a failure of literally every safety to prevent a massive roll back and once the inertia of such a heavy machine builds up to that point, nothing will stop it until the weight equalizes on both sides of the lift. As a lift mechanic this makes me sick and I can only wonder about the level of incompetence that was going on there that day and during the maintenance cycle of that lift.
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I’m probably bit more than an armchair lift mechanic. And my points and comments are still valid and not bashing any one or place as I could.

You know how many resorts have daily checks and inspections and protocol to follow? All to most. How many follow them to a T day in and out, meh. How about when it’s crunch time. Or Presidents’ Day and your main lift is down. Short cuts get made. And the experience is not there at most resorts. Mistake some get made and rules get bent. I’ve seen it first hand at numerous resorts around the world.
 
13905141:SkiBum. said:
I’m probably bit more than an armchair lift mechanic. And my points and comments are still valid and not bashing any one or place as I could.

You know how many resorts have daily checks and inspections and protocol to follow? All to most. How many follow them to a T day in and out, meh. How about when it’s crunch time. Or Presidents’ Day and your main lift is down. Short cuts get made. And the experience is not there at most resorts. Mistake some get made and rules get bent. I’ve seen it first hand at numerous resorts around the world.
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I wasn't referring to you as an armchair mechanic, I just mean all the people on social media comparing a chairlift to their car and have never been inside a motor room. I'm curious as to your experience level though, what do you do?
 
13905144:Daph said:
I wasn't referring to you as an armchair mechanic, I just mean all the people on social media comparing a chairlift to their car and have never been inside a motor room. I'm curious as to your experience level though, what do you do?
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Oh, sorry for jumping your case. Yeah this has blown up on social media. I’ve seen it across every news outlet to all the social media hubs. Rough look.

And I did a few aspects of upper management throughout a 15 year or so career in the ski biz. Mainly mountain operations. I now work half the hours and bang a keyboard all day for less stress and better pay. I keep my foot in the ski door here and there but I don’t think I could go back to that business. Maybe consult. But who knows. I do miss skiing.
 
13905152:SkiBum. said:
Oh, sorry for jumping your case. Yeah this has blown up on social media. I’ve seen it across every news outlet to all the social media hubs. Rough look.

And I did a few aspects of upper management throughout a 15 year or so career in the ski biz. Mainly mountain operations. I now work half the hours and bang a keyboard all day for less stress and better pay. I keep my foot in the ski door here and there but I don’t think I could go back to that business. Maybe consult. But who knows. I do miss skiing.
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Oh cool! I could never do management, I like wrenching and being outside too much. I wish the pay was better though, maybe with the monstrosity of an 8 pack we are installing this summer we will become more appreciated and paid a little better but I'm not holding my breath.
 
Growing up I always immediately thought this would happen when the lift stopped on steep runs. Didn't imagine it being that bad, just thought the lift infront would break my legs, not fling me 20 ft in the air.
 
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