Chair falls off lift at Camelback

[PAabe]

Today a chair on the Sullivan lift at Camelback (west side/ main detachable) apparently hit a tower and detached with people on it

https://imgur.com/vRADT0C

https://imgur.com/GC4ipRE

My source is reddit and I could not find any post on facebook or the news but the snow report shows no lifts running on the west side which seems to confirm this

 

[ss20]

Crap. Hope everyone is ok.

Zero wind. Either someone was being stupid and swinging the chair back/forth causing it to hit the tower and detatch, or some type of catastrophic grip failure almost never seen on modern detachable chairs.

 

[njdiver85]

From reddit: Sullivan Lift jerked forward causing a chair to hit a support column and detach.

 

[PAabe]

Camelback, PA

Click on a lift’s name for pictures. View in fullscreen↗

liftblog.com

Sullivan express is a 1995 Doppelmayer high speed quad.
Apparently they run it year round so it has some hours on it
Camelback is under new ownership this year (rumor is Blue will be under same ownership next year)

The pictures seem to show height could have been worse but still fairly high, hopefully nobody is critically injured

 

[ne_skier]

According to insta @skicamelsack a son and his dad are in the hospital with serious injuries.
The lift itself is a 1995 Doppelmayr detachable quad. Runs daily and also runs for the amusement park in the summer. It's the last lift of it's era, using tech dating back to the late 80s. Stevenson is one year older and has virtually the same tech. No excuse for them to not shut down both lifts and do a thorough inspection after this.

 

[ne_skier]

Unconfirmed*** reports saying that the father lost his vitals on the way to the hospital and both kids are paralyzed. True or not, absolutely outrageous on behalf of Camelback. Since PR is doing Jack shit, go to @skicamelsack for updates

 

[raisingarizona]

Unconfirmed*** reports saying that the father lost his vitals on the way to the hospital and both kids are paralyzed. True or not, absolutely outrageous on behalf of Camelback. Since PR is doing Jack shit, go to @skicamelsack for updates

Jesus. That’s awful.

 

[PAabe]

Not saying this is anything but an accident but people on pa forum are saying Sullivan had seemed to be stopping a lot lately, and new camelback management have seemed to be bigger bean counters than previously

See if they shut down Stevenson too, Sullivan has redundant fixed grips but not Stevenson. I'm kind of surprised they didn't today.

Some sort if press release would seem to be expected given this happened like 9 hours ago now

Liftblog article will be kept updated: https://liftblog.com/2021/03/21/chair-falls-from-camelbacks-sullivan-express/

Good point in a comment on there, dad and 2 kids right before unload so horseplay unlikely

 

[JoeB-Z]

Crap. Hope everyone is ok.

Zero wind. Either someone was being stupid and swinging the chair back/forth causing it to hit the tower and detatch, or some type of catastrophic grip failure almost never seen on modern detachable chairs.

I would think a chair hitting a tower should never cause a detachment. Kids will swing, people will load with skis sideways. It is low force glancing blow. Plus wind. Mechanical, inspection, maintenance failure I suspect. Pretty big on fixed grips myself. Old detachables seem like a complicated headache to maintain and inspect.

 

[PAabe]

I don't quite understand why these places put hours on the detachables in the summer rather than the parallel fixed grips.

Most of the people there is the summer are there for the joyride and not in a hurry to get to the top - why run the expensive lift?

 

[drjeff]

I don't quite understand why these places put hours on the detachables in the summer rather than the parallel fixed grips.

Most of the people there is the summer are there for the joyride and not in a hurry to get to the top - why run the expensive lift?

Much easier to load/unload a detachable when people of all ages (and physical abilities) are on their 2 feet and not on skis or a snowboard

 

[jimmywilson69]

holy shit... I hope people are ok but that picture doesn't look good. from a height perspective.

Much easier to load/unload a detachable when people of all ages (and physical abilities) are on their 2 feet and not on skis or a snowboard

yep my thoughts exactly.

 

[jerseydaze]

Wouldn’t grip failure cause the chair to slide back or stick at the sheeve train?

 

[PAabe]

I guess since the lift was bouncing and the chair hit a tower, it was knocked off rather than just sliding back

Both high speed lifts listed as open on Camelback snow report today? This can't be accurate. Still no press release.

Edit: snow report updated showing stevenson open but baily double running instead of sullivan

 

[Domeskier]

I was on that lift a couple years ago when they did a routine stop that caused the chair to bounce up and down like a thrill ride. Never experienced something like that on any other lift. This accident sounds awful.

 

[ScottySkis]

There was a chair detachment at Camelback today that may have been loaded with passengers. Let's hope that if there are injuries, that they are not serious.

UPDATE: From the Pocono township Police/EMS there were 3 patients that fell 20-30ft from a chairlift. A 12 year old male with an arm injury 40 year old male with back and hip injury you have a 9 year old male with an abdominal injury. Details: https://bit.ly/3vQffQ2

 

[tumbler]

This is awful. Sugarbush has 3 Dopps from 1995 and Bravo is the winter and summer workhorse.

 

[ne_skier]

This is awful. Sugarbush has 3 Dopps from 1995 and Bravo is the winter and summer workhorse.

Luckily, they use different designs. Sullivan was the last of the UNI series and Sugarbush’s lifts are the first of the Spacejet series. It was not a mechanical problem with the lift most likely as the grip has multiple safeties, meaning it would have to be a catastrophic failure for the grip to break. Horseplay is also ruled out, as it is virtually impossible to bounce a detachable enough to hit a tower as they have more line tension than fixed lifts. 99% sure it’s a maintenance issue.

 

[Zand]

It's weird reading this thread while riding a chair at Sugarloaf of all places. Like watching "why planes crash" on a flight.

Hope they recover.

 

[tumbler]

Luckily, they use different designs. Sullivan was the last of the UNI series and Sugarbush’s lifts are the first of the Spacejet series. It was not a mechanical problem with the lift most likely as the grip has multiple safeties, meaning it would have to be a catastrophic failure for the grip to break. Horseplay is also ruled out, as it is virtually impossible to bounce a detachable enough to hit a tower as they have more line tension than fixed lifts. 99% sure it’s a maintenance issue.

Thanks for the info on SB Dopps.