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High Winds Derail Madonna II at Smuggs

ScottySkis

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http://www.wcax.com/story/20635967/high-winds-derail-ski-lift

No injuries reported. 90 minutes to evac the lift and an employee is quoted as saying one of two times they have had to evac a chair in the last 25 years.

Great job of them getting everyone who quickly and safety, not surprised at wind causing some pain to ski hills today, when I went shopping today I watched the wind take a stopped shopping cart and move it quickly in to a parked car causing some damage on the brake light, I fell bad for the owner.:thumbdown:
 

bdfreetuna

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Is "Madonna II" aka the main Madonna lift line lift?

Scary for the people on it, I'm sure. Won't stop me from trying to revisit Smuggs this year!
 

ss20

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First, I'm O.K. I got first chair Sunday morning and the Village chair was on hold. Took a few runs, then all the chairs closed due to LIGHTNING hold! It began to blizzard right after. The lifts re-opened 30 minutes later. The snow squall dumped 2 inches of snow in that short time. All was good till the wind began to pick-up at 1:00. At 2:00 I got the last chair on Madonna 1!!!!!! I was forced to get off at the midstation, which happens to go right by Madonna 2's top terminal. I saw that the chair wasn't moving, and had people on it, but didn't see anything unusual besides a few snowmobiles whizzing by. I kept skiing off Sterling until 4:00, when I went back to my condo. The next morning I was watching the news in bed, when I hear "Skilift derailment". I thought "holy sh!t" then the newscaster continues, and I shout "holy sh!t!!!!" I'm 1/2 a mile from where a lift derailed and I don't even know about it till the next morning!? I talked to a patroller Monday, he said that the haul rope was re-attached 30 minutes after everyone was off. I checked tower 10, which was where it happened. I saw no chair imprints in the snow, so no chairs fell, which is good because that's a tall 25ft tower. Now the great question: Will Madonna 2 suffer the same fate as Spillway? gulp
 

Conrad

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I checked tower 10, which was where it happened. I saw no chair imprints in the snow, so no chairs fell, which is good because that's a tall 25ft tower. Now the great question: Will Madonna 2 suffer the same fate as Spillway? gulp

I'm pretty sure when they say the cable derailed, that does not necassarily mean the cable fell flinging the chairs violently into the ground. I'm pretty sure they mean the lift derailed, but a safety device caught the cable right away. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 

ss20

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I'm pretty sure when they say the cable derailed, that does not necassarily mean the cable fell flinging the chairs violently into the ground. I'm pretty sure they mean the lift derailed, but a safety device caught the cable right away. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I took a few pictures of tower 10. I just looked at them, and only saw a very tiny cable catcher. I know some people who were on the chair when it happened, I'll try and ask them if they saw what occurred.
 

thetrailboss

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I'm pretty sure when they say the cable derailed, that does not necassarily mean the cable fell flinging the chairs violently into the ground. I'm pretty sure they mean the lift derailed, but a safety device caught the cable right away. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

That must be what happened because nobody else is talking about this and there were no injuries.
 

Telemechanic

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As is the case with most media reports on derailments it not clear if the Madonna II rope stopped on the cable catcher or missed it. One report by WFFF Assistant Patrol Director Eli Moore said, "It only dropped about a couple of feet...". The cable catchers are about six inches below the top of the sheaves so this could mean it did miss, but its not conclusive. Even if the rope did miss the cable catchers the rope & chairs wouldn't necessarily go to the ground (like Spillway 1 at Sugarloaf in 2010). Many lift are engineered so the chairs won't hit ground if the rope fully derails.

The full WFFF report is here: http://www.fox44abc22yourvoice.com/...-lift-derails-from-the-wind-70-people-hanging

To get the haul rope of Loon's East Basin Double to ground level to work on it in 2010 we had to remove the rope from two towers just to get it at waist level.
DSCF0003 (2).jpg DSCF0001.jpg
 

MadMadWorld

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As is the case with most media reports on derailments it not clear if the Madonna II rope stopped on the cable catcher or missed it. One report by WFFF Assistant Patrol Director Eli Moore said, "It only dropped about a couple of feet...". The cable catchers are about six inches below the top of the sheaves so this could mean it did miss, but its not conclusive. Even if the rope did miss the cable catchers the rope & chairs wouldn't necessarily go to the ground (like Spillway 1 at Sugarloaf in 2010). Many lift are engineered so the chairs won't hit ground if the rope fully derails.

The full WFFF report is here: http://www.fox44abc22yourvoice.com/...-lift-derails-from-the-wind-70-people-hanging

To get the haul rope of Loon's East Basin Double to ground level to work on it in 2010 we had to remove the rope from two towers just to get it at waist level.
View attachment 7447 View attachment 7448

That's pretty cool I had no idea. That helps my irrational fear of plummeting to my death on a chairlift
 

ss20

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I am 100% certain the chairs did not hit the ground. There were no imprints in the snow where the derail happened. The patroller told me the haul rope was back on the sheaves within 1/2 an hour of the end of the evac, I doubt it'd be that quick if the chairs hit the ground.
 
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