23 replies to this topic

[iceberg210]

My friend on the Snowbird ski team told me this week that appartently while taking thier backpack off on of Snowbird's Dopp doubles the chair almost came with it so they are having to inspect the grips of all the Dopp doubles that are like Gad 2, Little Cloud etc. Wondering if anyone had any info on this.

[SkiBachelor]

I'm kind of confuesed by what you just said, could you be a little more specific because you said that the chair almost came with it.

[edmontonguy]

Also those lifts are all "Around the Back pole" doubles?

[liftmech]

As far as I know they are.
If I'm understanding you right, Erik, I'd have one other question- why were they wearing their backpacks in the first place? One should always carry one's pack in front to avoid getting it tangled in the chair. Of course, if that was the case in this incident, and it helped reveal a grip problem, then for once it was a good thing. I kind of doubt that a skier could move a grip along the rope, though- those things are hard enough to move with the grip open.

[iceberg210]

Well to start answering the questions first of all these are all behind the back pole doubles and I don't know exactly the story behind the backpack and the lift but I do know that Snowbird for the past week has closed all of those Dopp doubles in order to inspect the grips and only today after such inspection has the first one (Peruvian) finnally reopened.

[edmontonguy]

The Grip in question:
http://www.chairlift...stele/tran9.jpg
Thanks to Chairlift.org

[Allan]

Hmm, those are fairly similar to our T-bar grips, only ours don't have spring packs. I hope that's where the problem lies, otherwise I'm going to be pulling springboxes off AGAIN.

[GravityAddict]

Apparently what happened is on 11/23/2004 or thereabouts one of the chair grips released as two patrollers got off the Wilbere chair. Luckily it did it at the top instead of somewhere in the middle. During load testing immediately following the incident, many grips failed. Now Gad 2 and Wilbere are both closed until late December, because all grips are being replaced, including the haul cables. Why can't they take care of this stuff in the summer?? Last year it was the new cables on the tram causing all kinds of headaches...

[Allan]

Codes require 20% of the grips to be ND tested annually, which means every five years 100% of the lift's grips should have been tested. I don't know all the circumstances (was there a lack of preventative maintenance, not following rope retirement guidelines, not following manufacturers specifications etc), but maybe this years batch tested OK. I don't know if "kick testing" is required in the states, but it basically tests the grips resistance to sliding - we must do this on our chairs, if the grip slips, then you retorque it, if it still slips you replace it. As to why they can't take care of this in the summer... sometimes these things don't show up until something like this happens and they are forced to test all their grips.

[SkiBachelor]

Well when I was at Snowbird this summer, all of the carriers on the Wilbere lift were off, so maybe the grips were tightened all the way?

[Allan]

If the grips are being replaced, then no that's not the case. I can't imagine someone putting a grip on a rope and not tightening it to spec before sending it on its way but I'm sure it's happened. Those design grips would first slip if not tightened, not leave the rope - especially if the carrier was loaded.

[liftmech]

Allan- we do have to kick test our grips down here- there are various methods, none of which actually involve kicking but it's the same idea.
I'd be interested to hear what the root cause of all this is. We don't have any fixed-grip Doppelmayrs, but that sounds awfully strange to me.

[iceberg210]

Thank you Gravity Addict for the clear up. Mid Gad and Little Cloud are still closed as of last I heard but should (if no problems show up) be up by the weekend.

[Allan]

There's days I'd like to drop kick our kick tester :) Our tester has YAN on it... you might have the same one! It clamps to the rope and has a little lever that kicks against a sleeve that's against the grip wing. It's hard to picture without a picture :)

I'd like to know the full story as well. I know our T-Bar grips used to slide around, but I haven't seen that happen in years.

[liftmech]

Yup, that's the same one as we have. It looks like it was make from a spare type D grip, right? Ours is hit or miss and is a bear to operate and doesn't really prove anything and I could go on but I won't. :)

[Allan]

That's the beast!

[GravityAddict]

Actually, the affected lifts are Gad 2 and Wilbere. Little Cloud is still running, thankfully. Note- it is newer. The rumor I heard was that Snowbird did not do the ND testing this summer. Dunno if thats true or not, but it wouldn't surprise me. Now they have it spun as "lift improvements" on the website at http://www.snowbird.com/pages/shared/viewe...ategory_id=0227

I am glad no one was hurt in the incident... notably ME, since I have ridden Wilbere a couple times already this year.

[liftmech]

Does Snowbird have a history of not doing NDT, since it doesn't surprise you?

[floridaskier]

Yeah, why would that not surprise you? What's the penalty for not doing the NDT?
All sorts of incidents going on in the world now, the Eagle at Coppper, Telluride 5 Chair, and this one

[Allan]

We're required to ND Test... I don't think we'd get an permit to run without proving to the inspector that we actually did it.