12 year old dangles 30 feet up, from a ski lift!

[MtnMagic]

Here is a very interesting short read and video clip:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/10/earlyshow/leisure/main660307.shtml

 

[ChileMass]

From wbz.com -

Boy Recalls Ski Lift Horror

Was Not Seriously Injured
Dec 10, 2004 2:02 pm US/Eastern
PARK CITY, Utah (CBS) A 12-year-old skier had a chair lift ride he'll never forget on Saturday in Park City, Utah.

Anthony Trabert was about to get off when his backpack straps got caught on the safety bar. The lift kept going, and soon Anthony was dangling almost 30 feet above the ground, outside the lift.

"I was going back down the mountain, hanging by my neck," Trabert told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm.

He finally wiggled out of the backpack and fell down. The snow and powder on the ground broke his fall.

Trabert says, as horrific as the ordeal was, he's getting right back on the skiing horse. "I'm feeling good. I hope to go skiing tomorrow (Saturday)."

Making matters worse for Trabert, he says his yelling at the lift operators did no good: "The two people that were in there were listening to music and talking and laughing, until my friends finally went up and started pounding on the door."

Trabert says he was dangling for more than three minutes. "I was really scared. I was just thinking... At first, mainly, I was thinking of getting down, and then toward the end, before I fell down, I was thinking that I was going to die."

Trabert's father Michael was skiing on the same mountain at the time.

The incident was caught on tape, and Michael Trabert told Storm, "It was really interesting because, when it happened, that night, we talked about it, and then Anthony described it to us, and you kind of have a picture in your mind of what you thought it was like, and then when you actually saw the footage and saw what it was really like, it was totally different.

"We were lucky," the elder Trabert continued. "The snow was pretty soft. He did fall into a mogul field. Moguls are for bumps, so luckily there was some snow in between, and the patrolmen were there when he landed and were right on top of him within about a second."

 

[Greg]

CM - please post a clickable link to the article in lieu of pasting the text. Thanks!

 

[Greg]

That's a pretty amazing video. I'm still unclear as to why he wiggled out of the backpack, but I got from the interview that he was being choked by the sternum strap.

Good to hear he's heading back out too, but I had to chuckle with some of his terminology; the "little hill thing" and the "circle thing"... :lol:

 

[JimG.]

2 weeks ago, Hunter mountain. I'm there with my buddy Karl and my 2 boys, David and Peter. We're at the quad, ready to load, Karl and I on the outsides, Peter next to Karl and David next to me. The lift arrives and Peter slips and grabs the lift but is not on it. Karl grabs Peter's arm and we all start shouting "stop the lift". The liftie is right there, looking at us, no music or distractions.

Lift keeps going. We're all yelling "stop the lift"! Now Peter is terrified because he is dangling from the lift and we're gaining altitude, now about 15 feet above the ground. Karl says "no way in hell I'm letting him go Jimbo". Now everyone on the lift line and on the lift is yelling "stop the lift"!!

Lift keeps going. Now we're a good 100 yards from the loading area and at least 30 feet above the ground. People on the trails are screaming "stop the lift" and pointing at poor Peter. David reaches over to help but I realize the safety bar is not down and I'm afraid he will fall, so I tell him to sit back. I tell Karl to hold Peter tight until I get the bar down because I could see Karl was starting to slip out of the lift and I couldn't reach over to grab Peter's other arm without falling myself. As I'm putting the bar down I'm screaming "stop the lift"!!!!

Lift keeps going. Now we're a good 35 feet off the ground as I get the bar down. I reach over and grab Peter under his other arm and we pull him up onto the lift. Only damage is he let go of his poles, but someone has them and says they will bring them up to the top.

As I comfort Peter who is just fine, the lift stops! I'll stop before I go off on the brain dead zombies who run the lifts, apparently the same problem this 12 year old had in Utah.

All that really matters is that Peter was fine and kept skiing until they shut the lifts down at 4pm.

 

[Greg]

All that really matters is that Peter was fine and kept skiing until they shut the lifts down at 4pm.

Unbelievable. I hope you gave that liftie an earful on the next ride up... :angry:

 

[JimG.]

Unbelievable. I hope you gave that liftie an earful on the next ride up... :angry:

Judging from their inability to hear me in our moment of crisis, I decided the lift op was deaf and that talking to them would have no impact.

Peter was partly to blame because he often forgets his pole straps and then has to fiddle with them to get them off while he's boarding the lift. That was why he slipped, so I used the event as a learning opportunity.

Those pole straps were off his wrists the moment we got on the lift line from that moment on 8) !

 

[jimme]

I'm a big believer in self responsibility, maybe your son was not fully ready, but that is part of the reason the lift ops are there. . .to help load the chairs and watch for trouble. Once he attempted to load the lift he became the responsibility of the lift op. With that much commotion and most people shouting to stop the lift, that lift op should have responded. Sounds like partly sheer luck that your son was pulled to safety. I probably would have done the same thing. . .just let it go. People make mistakes, I typically don't like to make a scene but in this case I think management should be aware of the situation; maybe you can email them your story. Give 'em hell. Glad that it turned out OK, though.

Jimme

 

[JimG.]

I'm a big believer in self responsibility...Sounds like partly sheer luck that your son was pulled to safety. I probably would have done the same thing. . .just let it go...maybe you can email them your story. Give 'em hell. Glad that it turned out OK, though.

Jimme

I hear you, but the only luck involved here was that my buddy Karl was next to Peter since I couldn't have reached him in time. Karl loves my boys as much as he loves his own daughter and would have fallen with Peter rather than letting him go.

As for telling management, my whole family has Hunter season passes and I've been skiing there 40-45 days a season since the late 80's. I was also a Hunter employee for many years. I've brought situations that needed management to their attention in the past with little effect.

Like you said, it's a matter of personal responsibility and Peter learned his lesson form it. Not gonna waste my time telling them about this. It would just piss me off to have some Hunter manager refer me to the personal responsibility code!

 

[First Tracks]

My kid did the same thing that JimG. describes while at Santa Fe, NM when he was about 10. I wasn't there to witness it or participate, as I was off with a marketing flack, and my wife and her friend couldn't hold onto him any longer. He dropped about 12-15 feet onto a tower pad that the lifties hauled out. Fortunately for him he was fine, but he's a whole heckuva lot more careful now when boarding lifts!