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Lift Derailment in West Virginia

MEtoVTSkier

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According to eye witnesses, shortly after the resort opened for the morning, the cross-arm of one of the lift towers on the fixed-grip Thunderstruck lift separated from the lift tower, landing onto the ground.

Another Borvig
 

jimmywilson69

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I'm not sure the following statement is so true any more

"Chairlift accidents are rare. According to the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), “riding a chairlift or gondola while skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, or even just sightseeing, is an exceptionally safe and secure mode of transportation.”
 

BushMogulMaster

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I'm not sure the following statement is so true any more

"Chairlift accidents are rare. According to the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), “riding a chairlift or gondola while skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, or even just sightseeing, is an exceptionally safe and secure mode of transportation.”

Statistically, it's definitely still true. Consider the combined uphill capacity (people per hour, or pph) of all the ski resorts in the country. That's some extreme transportation volume. Number of incidents is extremely low. Comparatively speaking, ski lifts are significantly safer (incidents vs. people moved) than any other form of mass transportation. Don't have the study in front of me to cite stats, but it's a big margin.

Just to put it in a little perspective, Killington's advertised uphill capacity is about 37,000pph. On a busy holiday weekend, they'll be maxing out their capacity, subtracting about 10% for real efficiency. That means 33,300pph actual capacity. 33,300 x 8 operating hours = 264,000 people transported per day. Just at Killington. So when you extend the formula through all US ski areas for the entire operating season, even calculating for slow days, the number of annual injuries / total people transported = an infinitesimal percentage. Ski lifts are statistically remarkably safe.
 

BushMogulMaster

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What does that mean? Including stoppages for people falling etc.....

Correct.

Where:

C= capacity in pph (people per hour)
P = passengers per carrier
T = loading interval in seconds (time between each chair passing the load board)
R = rope speed in fpm (feet per minute)
-and-
S = carrier spacing in feet

C = (60 * P * R) / S
T = (60 * S) / R ---or--- T = 3600 / (C / P)



Capacity according to that formula is called "Theoretical Capacity," because it does not take into account slows, stops, partially-loaded chairs, etc. I just chose 90% for average efficiency. It might be a little lower. As expected, actual efficiency of fixed-grip chairs is substantially less than detachables, though the uphill capacity is comparable (increased chair spacing offsets the increased line speed, while the accel/decel/cadencing system still provides a 6-second average loading interval at about 150fpm).

Actually, that's a frequently mind-blowing fact for skiers, that detachable quads don't theoretically put any more people on the mountain than fixed grip quads. However, in reality, you might get a 5-10% increase in actual capacity due to improved efficiency. (well, I should also mention that a modern detachable, if it actually runs at 1,200 fpm, can attain up to 2,800pph, while fixed grips usually max out at 2,400)
 
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jimmywilson69

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BMM my comment was more toung in check towards the serious problem of aging infrastructure at most ski resorts. We've seen a lot of failures in recent years
 

BushMogulMaster

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BMM my comment was more toung in check towards the serious problem of aging infrastructure at most ski resorts. We've seen a lot of failures in recent years

Infrastructure certainly is aging, and Borvig is the hot name these days.

But the NSAA's statement will remain true. I suspect, however, that we may start to see companies like Sky Trac devoting a lot of time to retrofitting these old machines, right down to things like welds. Replacement cost is just too high for many areas.
 

jimmywilson69

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I agree... I wonder if we'll see more stringent standards enforced potentially forcing resorts hands for retrofits or replacements.

With a crappy year, it could be a big blow to some smaller resorts if they have to spend a bunch of Capex on lifts that they weren't planning for
 

Jully

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Infrastructure certainly is aging, and Borvig is the hot name these days.

But the NSAA's statement will remain true. I suspect, however, that we may start to see companies like Sky Trac devoting a lot of time to retrofitting these old machines, right down to things like welds. Replacement cost is just too high for many areas.

I could be wrong, but lifts haven't really been this old ever, especially at smaller ski areas. I would bet that the average age of ski lifts (not counting detachable lifts) at all areas is only getting older. Replacements are not keeping up at all. Sooner or later things will start to bend and state tramway authorities might not be able to keep up either if they are as small and potentially understaffed as I've been led to believe.

Obviously your first statement is still quite true though. Ski lifts are incredibly reliable given the sheer volume of skiers and riders that they transport on a daily basis for 20, 30, 40 + years in a row.
 

BushMogulMaster

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I agree... I wonder if we'll see more stringent standards enforced potentially forcing resorts hands for retrofits or replacements.

With a crappy year, it could be a big blow to some smaller resorts if they have to spend a bunch of Capex on lifts that they weren't planning for

+1

One interesting factor is the differences in state regulatory authorities. Here in CO, the CPTSB already enforces stringent standards. But I don't know what sort of authorities/standards are involved in places like WV.
 

BushMogulMaster

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I could be wrong, but lifts haven't really been this old ever, especially at smaller ski areas. I would bet that the average age of ski lifts (not counting detachable lifts) at all areas is only getting older. Replacements are not keeping up at all. Sooner or later things will start to bend and state tramway authorities might not be able to keep up either if they are as small and potentially understaffed as I've been led to believe.

Obviously your first statement is still quite true though. Ski lifts are incredibly reliable given the sheer volume of skiers and riders that they transport on a daily basis for 20, 30, 40 + years in a row.

That's exactly what I was saying. The infrastructure is aging, and replacement rate is low due to exorbitant CapEx strain. Retrofits and major overhauls may be more realistic for smaller areas. Regardless, I still expect the relative "safety" of ski lift transportation to continue to soar above all other means of mass transit.
 

VTKilarney

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I agree that ski lifts are an incredibly safe method of transportation. But they should be. Ski lifts don't have the chaos of a roadway system, or the electrical and mechanical complexity of an aircraft.
 

zoomzoom

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based on what i've seen before, am guessing this was not am immediate failure. rope misalignment prob present for some time but not noted.

severe cable whip tossed folks up and out of their chairs for sure. like the bullwheel failure at keystone.

Borvig issued a service bulletin in 1987 regarding installing tower mods after reports crossarm weld failures.

from reddit yesterday, interesting first hand experience during the tower failure and resulting cable whip:

"Yesterday I was skiing at a small West Virginia resort called "Timberline" where I had the scariest skiing related experience ever. Six friends and I were traversing up the mountain's main lift. It was a 3 person chairlift so we split into two groups. As we were halfway up the mountain approaching a support pole we felt a jolt. This was typical turbulence I've come to know and love in my time skiing. However, after the initial oscillation a much larger wave came across the chairlift's cable. In my chair, we were fortunate to be close enough to the support pole that the movement was manageable by a tight grip to the bar. However, behind me I watched in awe and helplessness as my friends were flung from their chair from approximately 20 feet in the air. We yelled up to the next chair in order to relay the message that the lift must be stopped. I had the misfortune of watching 12 or more people being flung from their seats. Luckily, to my knowledge no one was seriously hurt. While we were sitting in our chair waiting to be belayed down by ski patrol, we saw the culprit for this freak accident. The entire apparatus which forms the top of the "T" had torn off the support pole.
Local News Outlet Coverage: http://www.wboy.com/story/31270684/skiers-injured-in-ski-lift-failure-at-timberline-resort Moral of the story/ TLDR: Always put down the bar, you never know what crazy stuff might happen, especially when skiing smaller, older resorts."
 

Domeskier

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TLDR: Always put down the bar, you never know what crazy stuff might happen, especially when skiing smaller, older resorts."

Agreed. I was on a new HSQ the other week that stopped twice in rapid succession. It sent a wave through the haul line displaced the chair probably ten feet. Felt like a bungee jump. Glad the bar was down.
 

drjeff

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based on what i've seen before, am guessing this was not am immediate failure. rope misalignment prob present for some time but not noted.

severe cable whip tossed folks up and out of their chairs for sure. like the bullwheel failure at keystone.

Borvig issued a service bulletin in 1987 regarding installing tower mods after reports crossarm weld failures.

from reddit yesterday, interesting first hand experience during the tower failure and resulting cable whip:

"Yesterday I was skiing at a small West Virginia resort called "Timberline" where I had the scariest skiing related experience ever. Six friends and I were traversing up the mountain's main lift. It was a 3 person chairlift so we split into two groups. As we were halfway up the mountain approaching a support pole we felt a jolt. This was typical turbulence I've come to know and love in my time skiing. However, after the initial oscillation a much larger wave came across the chairlift's cable. In my chair, we were fortunate to be close enough to the support pole that the movement was manageable by a tight grip to the bar. However, behind me I watched in awe and helplessness as my friends were flung from their chair from approximately 20 feet in the air. We yelled up to the next chair in order to relay the message that the lift must be stopped. I had the misfortune of watching 12 or more people being flung from their seats. Luckily, to my knowledge no one was seriously hurt. While we were sitting in our chair waiting to be belayed down by ski patrol, we saw the culprit for this freak accident. The entire apparatus which forms the top of the "T" had torn off the support pole.
Local News Outlet Coverage: http://www.wboy.com/story/31270684/skiers-injured-in-ski-lift-failure-at-timberline-resort Moral of the story/ TLDR: Always put down the bar, you never know what crazy stuff might happen, especially when skiing smaller, older resorts."

I think the last sentence that the person giving the account wrote, about always putting the safety bar down, sums it up perfectly! Chances are something like this will NEVER happen to any of us while we are riding a lift, but it's not a zero percent chance, and the likelihood is that those who were riding on this lift near where the catastrophic failure of the cross arm happened stayed with/in their chair rather because of the safety bar rather than potentially being launched out of it, greatly reduced the severity of injuries
 

zoomzoom

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update from todays' vtdigger.org https://vtdigger.org/2016/02/24/safety-concerns-close-suicide-six-ski-lift/

lift inspectors "quicky cleared" lifts of similar design at stratton and mt snow. i presume he meant they were inspected in some fashion (simple visual or NDT?) by someone (who?).

at suicide six, some "cracks and stress" were found on two towers, they are being repaired per a prescribed plan and "Monahan said the resort must follow a prescribed welding plan and complete nondestructive testing on the lift before Vermont officials will allow it to reopen."

"Stephen Monahan, director of workers’ compensation and safety at the Vermont Department of Labor, said the state requested all ski towers be inspected after a weekend ski lift derailment in West Virginia. When inspectors visited Suicide Six, he said, they found cracks where a lift’s support arm meets the tower head."
 
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