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[SkiBachelor]

Quote

Here are the details of Friday's incident with the Mogul Mouse lift: Two adult skiers got their skis caught in a rope beneath their chair which forced the chair to become stationary while the cable kept moving. The chair behind the stopped chair ran into the stationary chair, causing the adult occupants of the moving chair to fall eight feet. No one was hurt. Our ski patrol was on the scene immediately and the individuals were subsequently evaluated by physicians. Both chairs and grips on the lift were replaced and the cable inspected. The state lift inspector was on site and certified the repairs and the lift ran all day on Saturday.

The Mogul Mouse Lift was designed low to the ground for beginners. We have now removed all ropes in these low areas. Our lift safety record is excellent, and we will continue to seek ways to improve upon it.

I'm just curious, but are grips supposed to migrate like this if a person's ski does get caught?

[Bill]

It usually pulls the skier out of the chair. My worse accident while working at Crystal Mountain was this:

I was working quarterway on Quicksilver (C-4, mid-loading station) a little girl and her mother boarded the lift, I held the chair back for them, they both got loaded but the mother's ski tip got caught on the snow, the chair stayed staionary, but was attached to the haul rope and very soon the the clip advanced beyond what the weight of the lady could hold the chair, pulling the lady and the child along, it resulted in dumping the child into the safety net and hitting the lady in the head as gravity returned the chair to it natural position. Of course, that meant E-Stop and a beer purchase for the top operator. She was fine, the child was upset, but no major injuries. It kept the lift stopped until I could climb out get the skis off the little girl and return her to the loading platform. A lift mechanic came by (a guy named Eric Wunderllich) and we got everything back in running order and such.

Just another day on the mountain. But to go back to the question, clips should not move, if they did, that could be disasterous on a steep incline (such as K2 face on the old Crystal Mountain C-5 Lift).