Chairlift Death

[burnsfp]

When you are sitting on a lift with people you don't know and you are thinking, "how long should I wait before I reach for the bar".

 

[dlague]

When you are sitting on a lift with people you don't know and you are thinking, "how long should I wait before I reach for the bar".

We were on a lift on Friday where we did not put the bar down and they people next to us (6 pack chair) had said they wanted the bar down and waited for me to do it. In the end, we were about to unload - they did not bother to put it up and I ended up doing it. A$$#0!&s

 

[DoublePlanker]

Put the fucking bar down.

 

[jerseydaze]

Put the fucking bar down.

2nd this add extra put the fucking bar down with kids.Kids bounce squirm get distracted act like kids put bar down.

 

[thetrailboss]

Update:

http://www.saminfo.com/headline-new...lity-involved-electrical-problem-tower-strike

All I can say is wow.

The investigation into the fatal chairlift accident at Ski Granby Ranch Dec. 29 has “identified issues within the chairlift’s electrical qickdraw express esizedrive/control system that contributed to a rare dynamic event that occurred on the lift at the time of the incident,” according to a report from the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board. In addition, the report said that the chair in which a Texas mom and her two daughters were riding struck a lift tower a third of the way up the mountain before the three fell 25 feet to the ground.

The CPTSB report provides the first official details of what led up to the fall. The report notes that “the circumstances indicated that environmental factors, weather and the occupants of (the chair) did not contribute to the cause of the incident. The facts of the incident show that, on Dec. 29, 2016, an unreasonable hazard existed in the continued operation of the lift.

 

[Jully]

Hold up - what? A rare dynamic event so the lift can now only be run using its diesel backup drive? Interesting.

 

[Smellytele]

Strange it only affected that one chair. Not sure I would ride that lift seeing they are allowing it to be used. Testing it with passengers as they ramp it up to 800 feet per minute...

 

[bigbog]

What I find crazy is how many lifts in Colorado have no safety bars. Loveland lifts do not have them, A Basin Pali lift does not have any, some at Eldora do not have them. Gets a little freaky when the lift stops and the chair swings back and forth............

I hear ya' on that. I once had the priviledge of riding up on the superquad chair with three late teen, testosterone-laden CVA physicists and they left the bar up... I was on the end so I went with it...just Once!;-) I was hanging onto everything I could find...and it did stop once.. That time I enjoyed settling back into the backseat... The momentum of a stop, without a bar down can lead to everybody going over the gunwale.

 

[cdskier]

Strange it only affected that one chair.

I find this strange as well. How does that happen? I'm curious to hear more details about this "rare dynamic event".

 

[drjeff]

Crazy!

I'm guessing that any pure Leitner and/or Leitner/Poma lifts of roughly that same vintage will be under some serious scrutiny of their electrical drive systems to make sure that this isn't a design flaw instead of just a terrible, one time event!!

 

[drjeff]

I find this strange as well. How does that happen? I'm curious to hear more details about this "rare dynamic event".

Might have to do more with the position of the chair on the haul rope at the time of the event. I'm sure as we all know there are some places when a chair suddenly stops, that the amount of bouncing/swinging is far more pronounced than others....

 

[BenedictGomez]

The investigation into the fatal chairlift accident at Ski Granby Ranch Dec. 29 has “identified issues within the chairlift’s electrical qickdraw express esizedrive/control system that contributed to a rare dynamic event that occurred on the lift at the time of the incident,”

Can someone put this in English....

 

[thetrailboss]

Can someone put this in English....

Exactly. They did a good job describing the injuries, etc but NOT the suspected cause.

Poma/Leitner is really nervous right now.

 

[thetrailboss]

Crazy!

I'm guessing that any pure Leitner and/or Leitner/Poma lifts of roughly that same vintage will be under some serious scrutiny of their electrical drive systems to make sure that this isn't a design flaw instead of just a terrible, one time event!!

One such lift: the Freezer at Jay. Leitner lift. One of the few I know of in the US.

 

[VTKilarney]

One such lift: the Freezer at Jay. Leitner lift. One of the few I know of in the US.

Jay can ill afford to lose the Freezer.

 

[Not Sure]

Can someone put this in English....

Momentary power interruption allowing a quick rollback ?

I find it hard to believe that all three slipped under the bar ! Had to be up!

 

[dlague]

Jay can ill afford to lose the Freezer.

Appropriately named!

Momentary power interruption allowing a quick rollback ?

I find it hard to believe that all three slipped under the bar ! Had to be up!

I agree!

Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[Keelhauled]

One such lift: the Freezer at Jay. Leitner lift. One of the few I know of in the US.

Fernie and Lake Louise in Canada have Leitners too.

I have read elsewhere that Quickdraw's drive control's were replaced prior to this season, and the new system caused the lift to speed up/slow down too quickly, which caused the "dynamic event." The physics involved still escape me--I would expect vertical/lateral motion in the line rather than side to side, but I suppose that would be good news for other operators of Leitner lifts, although very bad news for the company that installed the new drive.

 

[Breakout12]

I was at Blue Mountain in Ontario recently, and the lifts have what look like child safety devices on them. There is a plastic tray-like piece on top of the bar that folds down in front of the passenger and it appears that the purpose is to block the extra space where kids would slide under the bar. It looks shaped for them to lean their arms on.

Unfortunately, none of the bars had foot rests! I find that my knees get sore after a while from the extra weight of the skis and boots, so a foot rest is an added benefit. I don’t understand why people wouldn’t use the bar.

As an aside, when I was getting on a chair, I had reached back and grabbed the upright, and another passenger was so quick in bringing the bar down that it smashed my arm between the post and the safety bar. I mean, we weren’t more than a couple of feet past sitting down.

 

[dlague]

I was at Blue Mountain in Ontario recently, and the lifts have what look like child safety devices on them. There is a plastic tray-like piece on top of the bar that folds down in front of the passenger and it appears that the purpose is to block the extra space where kids would slide under the bar. It looks shaped for them to lean their arms on.

Unfortunately, none of the bars had foot rests! I find that my knees get sore after a while from the extra weight of the skis and boots, so a foot rest is an added benefit. I don’t understand why people wouldn’t use the bar.

As an aside, when I was getting on a chair, I had reached back and grabbed the upright, and another passenger was so quick in bringing the bar down that it smashed my arm between the post and the safety bar. I mean, we weren’t more than a couple of feet past sitting down.

I was amazed at how many lifts I have ever been on in Colorado that do not have safety bars at all. Some resorts it is a lift or two but at Loveland there are no safety bars on all of their lifts. Felt weird at first but seems normal now.

I always find that a courtesy "Is everyone ready" smoothes out this scenario.

Totally agree!

Sent from my SM-G930P using AlpineZone mobile app