Sugarbush Lift Evac today 4-7-13

[Cornhead]

I wonder if bdfreetuna has ever gotten stuck on a lift?

Wow, that would suck, wouldn't it? What would you do? I think I'd drop my skis, climb up on the chair, drop trou, sit on the back of the chair and let er fly...lookout below! Hey, toss me up some TP please. I can see the obit now, " He fell from the disabled chairlift while trying to relieve himself." Hey, maybe it'd make "1000 ways to die". I saw one where a guy tried to crap in a garbage can, got stuck, fell over, rolled down a hill and died.

 

[drjeff]

That happened to me once at Mount Snow many years ago. Sometime in the 90's.

I only got a hot chocolate

When I got evac'd this year at Mount Snow, I got a voucher for a free day of skiing and a voucher for a free hot chocolate. Fortunately for me, my favorite base lodge bar was open, and they have a hot chocolate machine for certain "adult" hot chocolate concoctions

 

[Telemechanic]

So I take it that the broken flange was a component of the drive and that they could not actviate the lift to evac it? Or was the lift evacuated out of an abundance of caution following an infamous incident that occurred at another "Sugar" mountain.

A flange or side plate is part of a tower sheave. Basically a sheave on a tower was failing and it wasn't safe to run the lift. The risk would be further damage to tower and haul rope. I wouldn't expect anyone was thinking of the Spillway incident.

 

[thetrailboss]

A flange or side plate is part of a tower sheave. Basically a sheave on a tower was failing and it wasn't safe to run the lift. The risk would be further damage to tower and haul rope. I wouldn't expect anyone was thinking of the Spillway incident.

I was wondering if the flange was on the tower sheave train. If that was the case then wouldn't this be very similar to Spillway? In that case the haul line tension was an issue and the mechanics were, allegedly, trying to adjust the tension of the sheave trains while the lift was operating and the line slipped off the sheave train. I guess the end result--derailment--would be the same.

 

[Telemechanic]

I was wondering if the flange was on the tower sheave train. If that was the case then wouldn't this be very similar to Spillway? In that case the haul line tension was an issue and the mechanics were, allegedly, trying to adjust the tension of the sheave trains while the lift was operating and the line slipped off the sheave train. I guess the end result--derailment--would be the same.

These incidents are different except they both involve towers. Spillway was an alignment issue. The haul rope wasn't running in the center of the sheave train. The mechanic was trying align the sheaves to the haul rope.

A failed sheave usually causes further damage to itself followed by damage to other parts. If the rope contacts anything that that isn't rolling it acts like a saw. The resulting damage isn't easy to predict so you have to watch it closely. Sugarbush must've seen something that made them think the sheave was going to stop rolling so they pulled the plug.