Stuck on chairlift at Stowe for more than two hours

[urungus]

https://www.boston.com/news/skiing/2019/01/28/150-evacuated-stuck-chairlift-stowe

 

[BenedictGomez]

I know what lift Vail will be replacing next.

 

[cdskier]

I just glanced up at the TV in my office at work and they were showing video of the Stowe chairlift issue from this weekend on the Weather Channel.

 

[Glenn]

Headline is a little misleading. Not everyone was on the lift for two hours.

 

[flakeydog]

Shame on them for not having a (required) working auxiliary motor. I would understand if there was a haul rope or sheave issue that would prevent them from safely spinning the lift but this appeared to be a primary motor/power issue. Being an older lift over some pretty rugged terrain must have made the evacuation a challenge. Not to mention the route down for some that were probably not planning on skiing down the lookout liftline. Perhaps it is easy for me to say from my armchair management seat but they should have had their sh*t together on this one.

 

[drjeff]

The bigger issue I think is how long did it take to evac the entire lift from when the code calling for the evac went out over the radio?

Under most circumstances, the industry target, if I recall correctly, is 90 minutes from when the call goes out for the evac, until the last guest on the lift is down.

Not sure in this case, if the mechanics spent a little extra time trying to get either the primary or auxillary back on line before the call for the evac went out or not?

 

[cdskier]

The bigger issue I think is how long did it take to evac the entire lift from when the code calling for the evac went out over the radio?

Under most circumstances, the industry target, if I recall correctly, is 90 minutes from when the call goes out for the evac, until the last guest on the lift is down.

Not sure in this case, if the mechanics spent a little extra time trying to get either the primary or auxillary back on line before the call for the evac went out or not?

According to the article the lift went down at 10:30 and evac began at 10:45 and was completed by 1:00pm. 15 minutes to start the evac is good I would think. 2:15 from start of evac to the last person being offloaded though does seem a bit long.

 

[thetrailboss]

That does not look very...Epic.

I think that has to be one of the last Riblet chairlifts still actively running. And I imagine it will be gone soon.

I also have to ask why the auxiliary was not operable. I believe that they are supposed to test it regularly. Why that did not happen here is weird. And I also find it odd that ski patrol/mountain services were not skiing down the line telling people what to do. Assuming that the interviewed woman was correct.

And I thought it was funny that the video clip from the local news repeats the same iPhone video of the idiot jumping off the chairlift. He looked like he was a few short of a six-pack.

 

[thetrailboss]

Another article.

https://vtskiandride.com/stowe-lift...EXJ7d1b1loK-LwiZW_frbBR1smg8Y-Y-NCVIBnszDWcHo

And my buddy, that I mentioned before, showing how not to exit a chair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=08jk7PGqIvA

 

[BenedictGomez]

And my buddy, that I mentioned before, showing how not to exit a chair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=08jk7PGqIvA

Looked pretty good, and then, I think he panics at the end?

 

[Ol Dirty Noodle]

Looked pretty good, and then, I think he panics at the end?

Looks like he slipped/hasn’t done upper body in a while and couldn’t hold his weight once he let it down

 

[ThinkSnow]

Under most circumstances, the industry target, if I recall correctly, is 90 minutes from when the call goes out for the evac, until the last guest on the lift is down.

What is this "industry target" you speak of?

 

[skiNEwhere]

I think that has to be one of the last Riblet chairlifts still actively running. And I imagine it will be gone soon.

There's still a ton of them out west. The company was in business until 2002 as well so I can't imagine it's too hard to get parts from old lifts.

Ironically enough, the only time I was ever lift evaced was at wildcat. The lift was the lynx double, a riblet as well. After we got evaced and skied to the bottom, we saw that the haul rope literally came off the sheave train of the first tower.

 

[mfi]

I see no reason to even ride that lift...

 

[jimmywilson69]

when there is a 20 minute wait at the 4-runner and the double is ski on

 

[deadheadskier]

I see no reason to even ride that lift...

Often times it is the fastest way up the mountain. Huge line on Forerunner while Lookout is ski on.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[benski]

when there is a 20 minute wait at the 4-runner and the double is ski on

My rule of thumb is if time in line>time on lift, it might as well be a fixed grip. This is based on the fact that detached go about 2x the speed of fixed grips.