Sugarloaf Lift Accident - 3/21/15

WJenness · Mar 21, 2015

I hope everyone out there is alright...

Issue with the Kingpine chair this morning:

https://twitter.com/gwhoffmeister/status/579311060089511936

Tweet said the brake failed and chair went in reverse. :-(

What is going on up there? I am remembering the spillway chair from a few years ago.

Not good.

-w

WJenness · Mar 21, 2015

Statement from Sugarloaf on Facebook:

[h=5]Sugarloaf Mountain
[/h]4 mins · Edited ·

A lift evacuation is currently underway due to an accident on the King Pine Lift. Ski Patrol has confirmed a small number of injuries. Injured guests have been treated by ski patrol and are being transported off of the mountain. We are gathering information and will update you with more details when they become available

DaffyJeffy · Mar 21, 2015

I was waiting in line at the Kingpine chair a while back, perhaps a month ago. All the sudden one of the lifties started yelling and carrying on, cursing like crazy (very un-liftie behavior). He said something like "F$%c this place! I'm out of here! I'm going home!". It wasn't clear what pissed this guy off initially but then he explained it: A large piece of metal broke off above him and hit him in the head (I think it kind of grazed him). He was very angry but apparently okay. The other liftie sent the skiers away saying, and I quote, "there could be a rollback risk".

I thought to myself "that sucks, no Kingpine today". I skied down and got on Whiffletree. When I got back to the top I saw that Kingpine was running and loading skiers again. I thought "must not be a big deal" and went and got on the chair. It was unnerving that the chair was making a loud clunking noise, but I figured "they know what they are doing".

I love Sugarloaf. I live here. I have no ax to grind. The above story is accurate without embellishment. That is the way it happened. Is it related to todays accident? Probably not, but Sugarloaf is playing WAY too fast and loose with their safety policies in my opinion.

Most of you know about the Spillway incident and some of you know about the snowmaker that was seriously injured this year. It is time for Sugarloaf to take safety seriously and stop capitulating to marketing pressure to put their money in needless 30-person hot tubs and MAINTAIN THEIR GODDAMN INFRASTRUCTURE.

steamboat1 · Mar 21, 2015

DaffyJeffy said:
I was waiting in line at the Kingpine chair a while back, perhaps a month ago. All the sudden one of the lifties started yelling and carrying on, cursing like crazy (very un-liftie behavior). He said something like "F$%c this place! I'm out of here! I'm going home!". It wasn't clear what pissed this guy off initially but then he explained it: A large piece of metal broke off above him and hit him in the head (I think it kind of grazed him). He was very angry but apparently okay. The other liftie sent the skiers away saying, and I quote, "there could be a rollback risk".

I thought to myself "that sucks, no Kingpine today". I skied down and got on Whiffletree. When I got back to the top I saw that Kingpine was running and loading skiers again. I thought "must not be a big deal" and went and got on the chair. It was unnerving that the chair was making a loud clunking noise, but I figured "they know what they are doing".

I love Sugarloaf. I live here. I have no ax to grind. The above story is accurate without embellishment. That is the way it happened. Is it related to todays accident? Probably not, but Sugarloaf is playing WAY too fast and loose with their safety policies in my opinion.

Most of you know about the Spillway incident and some of you know about the snowmaker that was seriously injured this year. It is time for Sugarloaf to take safety seriously and stop capitulating to marketing pressure to put their money in needless 30-person hot tubs and MAINTAIN THEIR GODDAMN INFRASTRUCTURE.

I believe CNL owns the lifts, not Boyne. Any upgrades would be CNL's responsibility. CNL is currently looking to liquidate all their ski area holdings so I wouldn't expect any upgrades in the near future.

Hope everyone is OK.

ScottySkis · Mar 21, 2015

Hope all is well with in injured,.So sad. Sugar loaf Facebook posting comments seem to support above posts.

DaffyJeffy · Mar 21, 2015

steamboat1 said:
I believe CNL owns the lifts, not Boyne. Any upgrades would be CNL's responsibility. CNL is currently looking to liquidate all their ski area holdings so I wouldn't expect any upgrades in the near future.

Hope everyone is OK.

When I say "Sugarloaf" I mean CNL, Boyne, and Sugarloaf management. They all have some responsibility in keeping their guests safe.

Not Sure · Mar 21, 2015

Was at Hunter on a middle school trip in the 70's , usually ride with the bar down , the person I was riding with insisted on leaving the bar up. About 100yds from the peak the lift stopped and rolled back 100' finally grabbed and my chair swung and went 60 degrees on the backswing , I was basically staring at the ground from 50 plus feet , scared the hell out of me ! I cursed out my fellow passenger .

sugarbushskier · Mar 21, 2015

My son happens to be there this weekend.. Ethan will not returns calls Very concerned Bad PR. Have tried multiple times.

sugarbushskier · Mar 21, 2015

BTW having challenges trying to respond to threads so not sure if it's me or the system. Apologies in advance for the grammatical issues.......

ScottySkis · Mar 21, 2015

sugarbushskier said:
My son happens to be there this weekend.. Ethan will not returns calls Very concerned Bad PR. Have tried multiple times.

Hope all is well. I remember not much service with Verizon when I was there at az summit 2014.

sugarbushskier · Mar 21, 2015

Just heard from him. He's fine. Of course never even heard of accident. I guess that's good. Thanks for well wishes and hope all affected are OK.

Breakout12 · Mar 21, 2015

A rollback is one of my biggest fears. In my Big Tupper thread, someone linked a report of a 50' rollback there. How often do these happen?

As an aside, I thought it was interesting how news channels were negotiating with the Twitter user in the comments.

skiNEwhere · Mar 21, 2015

This will seriously hurt sugarloafs reputation. One accident can be considered a freak occurrence, but 2 in the last 5 years and people will assume it's an unsafe Mtn and just stay away.

Not Sure · Mar 21, 2015

Breakout12 said:
A rollback is one of my biggest fears. In my Big Tupper thread, someone linked a report of a 50' rollback there. How often do these happen?

As an aside, I thought it was interesting how news channels were negotiating with the Twitter user in the comments.

I've been on a rollback at Hunter and a lift evac at Shawnee in the Poconos fortunately it was 50f and sunny . Skied for forty plus years and have only met one other person who was evaced and no one else that has been on a rollback .

Was on Kingpine this year , had a shudder that resolved itself after passing 2 towers up from the bottom.
I think if I was on a rollback that continued , I'd take my chances and jump.

Someone posted a video rollback test with cinder block weights on the chairs.
I don't think I would want to be flung off !

I'm thinking lift accidents occur more toward the end of the season,time to keep your radar up
Any event a rare occurrence

makimono · Mar 21, 2015

slatham · Mar 21, 2015

Well that video confirmed my long held belief that in a rollback its better to jump. Just have to wait until you're at lower heights closer to the base terminal. But not too close. Very scary though. Hope everyone is alright. Hope Sugarloaf gets its act together. 2 accidents in a couple years? I might be game to ski there but my kids? No way.

Not Sure · Mar 21, 2015

Wow , scary !, although the speed that they are going is half the speed of the rollback I was on, it looks like there was marginal braking.

AdironRider · Mar 21, 2015

Sounds like almost, if not all injuries, are from people jumping off. Probably not actually the best course of action in reality unless headed for the bottom terminal at unstoppable speeds.

Puck it · Mar 21, 2015

AdironRider said:
Sounds like almost, if not all injuries, are from people jumping off. Probably not actually the best course of action in reality unless headed for the bottom terminal at unstoppable speeds.

One report said the injuries were at the load station too.

zoomzoom · Mar 21, 2015

am sure most forum users know something about aerial lift braking sytems, but just for clarity:

unless it can be proven that a lift cannot rollback, an aerial lift must have:
a service brake (usually applies on the gearbox input shaft)
a drive sheave brake (applies on the drive bullwheel)
a driveline anti-rollback (usally applies the gearbox input shaft)
a rollback device (usually applies on the bullwheel)

these are redundant sytems, and must be checked for function prior to operating for the public then logged on the ops sheet. it's common for service and drive sheave brake stopping distances to be logged on this sheet. per national standards, brakes must be torque-tested every 30 days of operation.

for a lift to roll back, all must have failed. a gearbox input shaft failure can take out the service brake and driveline rollback, but that still leaves 2 other devices that will prevent a rollback. by now, you can be sure the lift inspector has already viewed the daily log, the monthy torque test log and has a good idea what failed.

sorry to bore you. : )

Sugarloaf Lift Accident - 3/21/15

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