Sugarloaf Chair -Breaking News-

[pepperdawg]

just heard, hope everyone is ok. looking for info I googled it. the very first listing was for the Massachusetts-attorneys.com. go fiqure !!

heh - gotta love (and hate) technology.

 

[drjeff]

Well this is sure turning into the media sh$t show Practically the lead story on The Today Show this AM, immediately after having to listen to a short bit about some New York City residents b$tching that their streets weren't cleaned less than 12 hours after the storm ended

One thing though that so many folks fail to grasp, is that more than likely when the haul rope derailed, it's not like the descent of the chairs to the snow below was a total freefall, since the haul rope didn't break, as it "stretched" in the area where the derailment happened, I'd bet that some "slack" was taken up over the remaining thousands of feet of haul rope on both the up and down side of the lift. If it was a total freefall, I'd bet that in the pictures of the chairs laying in the snow, that you'd be seeing them looking a bit mangled, whereas they appear to be grossly intact

 

[thetrailboss]

Well this is sure turning into the media sh$t show Practically the lead story on the Today this AM, immediately after having to listen to a short bit about some New York City residents b$tching that their streets weren't cleaned less than 12 hours after the storm ended

The truth is that it was a complete coincidence that a CNN staff member was on the lift at the time. Had he not been on the lift it would not have made national news. If you watch the CNN clips, the lead anchor admits that he is not a skier and has no idea what he is talking about.

 

[dmc]

Well this is sure turning into the media sh$t show Practically the lead story on the Today this AM, immediately after having to listen to a short bit about some New York City residents b$tching that their streets weren't cleaned less than 12 hours after the storm ended

Well - in fairness to NY residents... People are dying in the boro's - emergency vehicles can't make it through.... While Manhattan is clean as a whistle..

 

[dmc]

The truth is that it was a complete coincidence that a CNN staff member was on the lift at the time. Had he not been on the lift it would not have made national news. If you watch the CNN clips, the lead anchor admits that he is not a skier and has no idea what he is talking about.

Yeah we we're joking about it last night... Glad no CNN people were on the old quad at Hunter when it had to be evacuated last year..

 

[thetrailboss]

Some more items of interest:

News video from Maine with some footage of Spillway from the distance:

http://www.wmtw.com/news/26299543/detail.html

Photo gallery from the Burlington Free Press with some pictures I had not seen:

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/...0101228&Kategori=NEWS05&Lopenr=1228001&Ref=PH

Sugarloaf's 5pm Statement:

Sugarloaf Mountain Spillway East Incident Update – 5:00 p.m.
State Lift Inspector on site; seventh person reported injured
Carrabassett Valley, Maine (Dec. 28, 2010) – An inspector from the State of Maine Board of Elevator and Tramway Safety arrived at Sugarloaf this afternoon to conduct an investigation into the causes of today’s accident on the Spillway East chairlift.

Sugarloaf personnel are assisting in the investigation. Additional engineering personnel are expected to arrive this evening and will join the investigation team on Wednesday.

A seventh chairlift passenger was sent to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, Maine as a precautionary measure early this afternoon. That individual had been checked at the scene by resort medical personnel and stated that he was fine, but later reported feeling some pain and was transported to the hospital.

For reasons of patient confidentiality, Sugarloaf cannot release specific information related to the identities or medical condition of those involved.

“We’re deeply concerned about those who were injured,” said Sugarloaf spokesman Ethan Austin, “and we’re committed to understanding the cause of this incident. We want our guests to have fun, but our first priority is their safety.”

Austin said that weather conditions at the mountain today were windy, but not atypical for Sugarloaf immediately after a major snowstorm.

Operations on the Spillway East were delayed this morning due to the wind, which diminished by mid-morning. Resort personnel checked the lift prior to opening.

The resort plans normal operations for the remainder of the week with the exception of the Spillway East chair, which will remain closed until the preliminary investigation is completed and the lift is cleared by the State of Maine to resume operation.

Statement Issued Today at the 1:15 Press Conference at the Sugarloaf Mountain Hotel:

Today, at approximately 10:30am, the Spillway East Chairlift experienced a rope derailment. At this time, we have 6 injured guests who have been treated and transported from the mountain.

All available mountain safety personnel are at the scene. The injured parties have been taken off the mountain. Additionally, the remaining guests on the lift have been evacuated.

As of now, the cause of the incident is still unknown and is under investigation.

The Spillway East chair is a 2 passenger monocable fixed grip chair manufactured and installed by Borvig in 1975. This lift was modified in 1983. Spillway East is 4,013 feet long with a vertical of 1,454 feet. This chair moves at a speed of 500 feet per minute and the chairs are 50 feet apart. Their are 162 chairs on this lift each weighing 140lbs.

Spillway East has a 250 horsepower motor and has a capacity for 1,200 skiers per hour. The Spillway Chairs run parallel up the Spillway trail. Spillway East runs to the top of the Sluice Headwall and you can access all terrain below the Spillway X-Cut.

The chairlift receives routine daily inspections for safety. Additionally, the chairlift receives weekly, monthly and yearly maintenance and testing. The lift is also inspected annually for its safety from the State of Maine Board of Elevator and Tramway Safety.

Sugarloaf Mountain and its employees are concerned for the people involved, additionally the resort would like to express its gratitude to all the safety personnel that have responded to this incident.

Sugarloaf Mountain is absolutely committed to the safety of its guests and employees.

Sugarloaf Mountain will issue updates on this site as new information becomes available.

Statement on Sugarloaf's FB page in regards to blocking comments that some people were making:

Hi, folks –

You’ve almost certainly heard about the Spillway East lift accident today. First, you should know that that we’re deeply concerned for the six people who were hurt and pray for their rapid recovery. We’re in touch with the families and working closely with them.

Next: we’re investigating what caused the accident, and we’re doing that in conjunction with state inspectors and other agencies. Your safety is even more important to us than your enjoyment of our mountain, and we’re doing our best to figure out what happened and will do everything humanly possible to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

Now, about the temporary block of our Facebook page: please understand that our intent is NOT to stifle discussion or dodge your questions. Today’s incident rapidly became a worldwide story and we’re still dealing with the media onslaught. So we’re working with the families of the people who were hurt, dealing with the media, and still running a ski area (yes, we’re still operating). Keeping tabs on the Facebook page and making sure that rumors and speculation don’t spread would’ve been too much.

So here’s the deal going forward. We’ll keep you posted to the best of our ability. This is where you can come for official information. Please bear three things in mind:

1) We’ll release any additional information when we know it. We probably won’t answer questions – not because we don’t want to, but because we don’t know.
2) Speculating or trafficking in rumors won’t help anyone. Please refrain from doing so here.
3) If you hear something and it didn’t come from us, it’s almost certainly a rumor.

Everyone cool with that? Thanks. Thanks also for all your good wishes – and special thanks to the mountain ops and patrol people, who did an amazing job today.

 

[Glenn]

It's amazing how many pics are up of the scene. Just goes to show you how many people carry phones/cameras when they see.

Again, hope those who were hurt recover quickly. Thank God this happened when there was a good amount of fluff under the lift.

 

[thetrailboss]

Win Smith reacts in his "Win's Word:"

Today there was an unfortunate accident on a lift at Sugarloaf Mountain Resort in Maine. There were some erroneous reports that this accident happened at Sugarbush.

The past two days following the recent nor'easter were challenging for most ski resorts in the Northeast. Here at Sugarbush, we clocked winds in excess of 70 mph at times.

The primary focus of our skilled lift mechanics is safety, and they have sole discretion when deciding if a lift can be operated. As the owner and president of Sugarbush Resort, I will never second-guess their decision.

Yesterday at Mt. Ellen we were only able to operate Sunny-D safely, while at Lincoln Peak we were able to operate the Gate House, Bravo, and Village lifts and our two beginner lifts for parts of the day. Today the wind shifted from the north and we were able to operate all of Mt. Ellen. But at Lincoln Peak, because at times the wind was blowing in excess of 60 mph, the lifts were not safe to operate for most of the day. We had our lift mechanics stationed at the top of the lifts watching the wind all day. Around midday they deemed that Bravo could open, which it did for the balance of the afternoon. They were able to open Gate House at 3:05 PM and guests had some wonderful, freshly groomed runs on Sleeper, Hot Shot and Slowpoke.

And an article from the Burlington Free Press outlining Vermont resort's response to the incident.

 

[drjeff]

Well - in fairness to NY residents... People are dying in the boro's - emergency vehicles can't make it through.... While Manhattan is clean as a whistle..

I do understand this, but at the same time have to laugh a bit when I see video clips of folks who appear to be in their 20's and 30's whining about having to actually walk through the snow for a few blocks to get to a different bus stop because the buses can't get down their still snowcovered streets!

 

[deadheadskier]

The truth is that it was a complete coincidence that a CNN staff member was on the lift at the time. Had he not been on the lift it would not have made national news. If you watch the CNN clips, the lead anchor admits that he is not a skier and has no idea what he is talking about.

I still think it would be a national story. The Whistler Gondola incident was recently. It just might not have hit the press so quickly.

 

[dmc]

I guess what you see on the news depends on whats important to the local broadcast..

 

[drjeff]

I still think it would be a national story. The Whistler Gondola incident was recently. It just might not have hit the press so quickly.

Given that it's a vacation week for so many, there's large amounts of fresh snow over much of the country, and so many folks have recently gotten some new ski/boarding gear, it's definitely a big story to the media. (Plus there's very few of our "wonderfull" elected officials in Washington right now looking to get some camera time this week :lol: )

 

[thetrailboss]

This actually is not the first derailment at Sugarloaf. John Christie recited in his book on Sugarloaf an incident in the 1970's or 1980's when one of the gondola cars came off the line and fell to the ground after leaving the terminal. The two passengers were not hurt. Why did it not make news? The two passengers were a married man and his mistress and he did not want the publicity!

 

[wa-loaf]

This actually is not the first derailment at Sugarloaf. John Christie recited in his book on Sugarloaf an incident in the 1970's or 1980's when one of the gondola cars came off the line and fell to the ground after leaving the terminal. The two passengers were not hurt. Why did it not make news? The two passengers were a married man and his mistress and he did not want the publicity!

It was the 80's. I thought it was higher up, but that was the end for the gondola. Later opened back up from the mid-station for a few years.

 

[drjeff]

This actually is not the first derailment at Sugarloaf. John Christie recited in his book on Sugarloaf an incident in the 1970's or 1980's when one of the gondola cars came off the line and fell to the ground after leaving the terminal. The two passengers were not hurt. Why did it not make news? The two passengers were a married man and his mistress and he did not want the publicity!

Hmmm, I wonder what they were doing in the Gondola to get the cabin to jump off the haul rope :lol: I'm suddenly having flashbacks to the scene in Hotdog: The Movie where Squirrel was getting some action in the Gondola!

 

[witch hobble]

Hmmm, I wonder what they were doing in the Gondola to get the cabin to jump off the haul rope :lol: I'm suddenly having flashbacks to the scene in Hotdog: The Movie where Squirrel was getting some action in the Gondola!

I wouldn't want to be getting that type of action when the cabin impacts the ground:-o.

 

[SteveInCT]

Ya know, I always hate when lifts have those foot rest things on them because they make the lift cramped and are for people with very short legs. Seeing this makes me hat them more. If these chairs had them, one of two things would have happened: 1) It would have caught into the snow flipping the chair forward. Face plant with a chair on your back? or 2) It would have shot up very quickly. Most people have their arms resting on them. Dislocation? Hit in the jaw or face?

I don't know. I never liked them before so maybe I am just thinking about it too much.

 

[thetrailboss]

Ya know, I always hate when lifts have those foot rest things on them because they make the lift cramped and are for people with very short legs. Seeing this makes me hat them more. If these chairs had them, one of two things would have happened: 1) It would have caught into the snow flipping the chair forward. Face plant with a chair on your back? or 2) It would have shot up very quickly. Most people have their arms resting on them. Dislocation? Hit in the jaw or face?

I don't know. I never liked them before so maybe I am just thinking about it too much.

But without safety bars people would have been thrown left and right.

 

[drjeff]

Ya know, I always hate when lifts have those foot rest things on them because they make the lift cramped and are for people with very short legs. Seeing this makes me hat them more. If these chairs had them, one of two things would have happened: 1) It would have caught into the snow flipping the chair forward. Face plant with a chair on your back? or 2) It would have shot up very quickly. Most people have their arms resting on them. Dislocation? Hit in the jaw or face?

I don't know. I never liked them before so maybe I am just thinking about it too much.

If you look at the pictures, this lift DID have safety bars with foot rests. If anything I would think that for those few chairs that did impact the snow, the bottom of the footrest hitting the snow might have actually absorbed some of the impact and sent the impact force through the metal of the chair, thus decreasing the forces the people on those few chairs had transferred to their bodies, and lower extremeties in particular. Let alone keeping people on not just the chairs that hit the ground, but also what I'd imagine was a pretty good "bounce" for folks quite far away from the derailment site from being tossed out of the chair

 

[deadheadskier]

We've had the 'safety bar up or down' threads here before. Some say they want the bar up in case there is a derailment so they can jump from the chair. Wonder if anyone had the bar up yesterday and was able to do so. I'm thinking the drop would happen so fast, there would be no way to push yourself away from the chair in time to not land in it. Secondary problem might be the chair actually lands on top of you.

There's another situation where people were fortunate. Imagine if someone was skiing under the lift and the chair loaded with 2 skiers came crashing down on them.