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Ever Fallen Off A Lift?


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Poll: Ever Fallen Off A Lift? (60 member(s) have cast votes)

Ever Fallen Off A Lift?

  1. Yes (25 votes [41.67%])

    Percentage of vote: 41.67%

  2. No (35 votes [58.33%])

    Percentage of vote: 58.33%

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#21 lift rat

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Posted 01 April 2008 - 08:33 AM

View Postchasl, on Apr 1 2008, 03:48 AM, said:

Lift manufacturers build lifts to code B77 and OSHA. If you feel a ladder is to steep for you, the area can always add additional fall protection. Furthermore if additional fall protection is wanted by a ski area the manufacturer will gladly add this into the cost, the penny pinchers in the front office always look for ways to cut costs. So if you want additional fall protection, tell the people purchasing the lift you want it.
By the way older lifts can be retrofitted with additional fall protection, you just have to stop whining and do it, for one or two ladders or stairs it is really an inexpensive process.
But then again once the protection is in place you will probably complain that going into and out of the terminal takes to long.

Whining and complaining? I just want a little steel to keep from falling on my ass! You will never find one of those ladder\stairs contraptions in the administrative offices at Doppelmayr or Poma. Hmm. Furthermore, don't forget about the pain and suffuring that our friends, families, and loved-ones endure when we are injured or die. Just give me some stairs I can walk up safely and I'll stop whining and complaining.

#22 brad82

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Posted 24 October 2008 - 10:18 AM

Well I was in france (Tignes) and they hade a Doppelmayr TSD6 with magic carpet. Well some fat kid was on one of my skis, and as the gate opened I tried to go through, but only one ski got on. So the sensor that closes the gate detected one leg, and then closed, so I was in this situation _/|\_ . The le that got through was stuck on the carpet, and I mananaged to get my other leg through the gate, but because the shape of stations with a magic carpet in is strange, as the chair came round, I ended up in the middle, and not in the end. So some one sat on me, and everyone fell over - but because the *French* op was having a fag (cigarette) he did not stop the lift, so we all ended p on the floor before the first pilon

#23 Ontariodude

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Posted 24 October 2008 - 01:54 PM

Don't ask me how in heck I got in this position but the first time I ever skiied I was on a handle tow at Hockley Valley, Ontario and the handle somehow got behind my leg and I was subsequently dragged for about 5-10 seconds up the bunny slope by the back of my knee :cursing: and some how I couldn't get out of it. Considering I was pratically screaming, the lift operator must have been either not paying attention because it took him forever to stop that tow.

This might sound stupid but I've managed to have fallen while riding up the summit platter at Lake Louise. The track was very icy and before I knew it I had fallen to the side and then I started to slide down beside the lift line. I slid for a fairly long distance because all that face was was ice. My father was behind me and he let go and skied down after to me to make sure I was okay. The second time around I made it to the top of the lift :w00t:

I've also managed to loose balance while riding up the back side T-bar (the one that runs parallel with the bike side express quad) at Mont. Ste. Anne but it wasn't nearly as eventful.

As for chairlifts, I guess I've been lucky in that department. As much as I don't mind surface lifts, I've never had the best of luck with them.

Will
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#24 Ritchie503

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Posted 11 January 2009 - 08:41 AM

Have not fallen off a lift but getting off a FGT one very windy day I couldn't get speed to get away from the unloading zone and the chair came around knocked me over - that felt good.

View Postliftmech, on Mar 31 2008, 05:00 PM, said:

'stair-ladders' that are basically very steep stairs.


These are typically called a "Ships Ladder". They are common in buildings to gain access to the roof hatch.

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#25 DonaldMReif

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Posted 07 March 2009 - 10:16 AM

View Postliftmech, on Mar 31 2008, 06:00 PM, said:

I believe that here in CO any time you do a Major Modification to a lift, you have to make your ladders meet certain guidelines. In '99 we shortened the Flyer by 100' and lowered the bottom terminal; as part of that process the original vertical ladders up to the terminals had to be removed and replaced with 'stair-ladders' that are basically very steep stairs. You can walk down them fairly well, although it's a good idea to keep one hand on the rail.
Emax has posted some pictures in the past of some great stairs he has on his lifts. They take the place of the original ladders.



So I would assume this happened when the Independence SuperChair was lengthened in 2008.
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#26 floridaskier

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Posted 07 March 2009 - 12:21 PM

I would guess the Independence SuperChair already had ladders up to code before they moved it back, it's a pretty new lift.
- Tyler
West Palm Beach, FL - elev. 9 feet

#27 Guest_mjturley34_*

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Posted 07 March 2009 - 01:43 PM

Just because a ladder is "up to code" does not mean that it is safe or a good design. Gravity is hard to cheat & ladders generally transport folks away from terra firma.

If you have ladderphobia issues from previous traumatic experiences like I do, perhaps we can form a ladderphobiacs support group ? We cannot let our fears of ladders ruin our lives !!!!

#28 DonaldMReif

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Posted 03 April 2009 - 12:29 PM

Speaking of which, I'd like to also consider noting that I've had some falls on lifts.

For instance, I've seen a lot of misloads and unloads happening at six packs or any high speed lift with a 90 degree load.

In that point, when I was in Breckenridge over President's Day weekend, on the first day, I witnessed a bad misload on the Peak 8 SuperConnect (where a 90 degree load is still used). Then at the Independence SuperChair later that afternoon, one lady fell trying to get through the gate as it closed, while another guy, loading at the same time, lost a ski while getting on a chair (I lost a ski once getting on the Montezuma Express at Keystone, just recently on March 21).
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#29 tahoeistruckin

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Posted 05 April 2009 - 05:55 PM

View Postfloridaskier, on Mar 23 2008, 04:13 PM, said:

Incident number 2, also at DV, I was killing time waiting for someone and I rode up Snowflake, I turned around near the top and my ski tip dropped into the snow. I went out the front and landed on my face in deep powder, probably in 2004 or 05 when they had a ton of snow. Pretty embarrassing, especially in front of a bunch of little kids



And the lesson you learned was? lol

#30 tahoeistruckin

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Posted 05 April 2009 - 06:02 PM

View Postaug, on Mar 24 2008, 02:48 PM, said:

I think the question should be "Have you ever fallen from a chairlift ?" and yes is the answer. (PM me for details) Have you ever fallen in the load area of a chair lift? yes, much to my humiliation lack of attention and familiarity.



I think any resort employee has done that at least once.
I plead the 5th lol

#31 Kicking Horse

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Posted 05 April 2009 - 06:19 PM

View Posttahoeistruckin, on Apr 5 2009, 08:02 PM, said:

I think any resort employee has done that at least once.
I plead the 5th lol


I have not done this yet........ Still have 7 days to go in the season.......

Question,

Have you ever been hit by a chair while working or skiing?
Jeff

#32 EagleAce

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Posted 05 April 2009 - 06:28 PM

View Posttahoeistruckin, on Apr 5 2009, 07:02 PM, said:

I think any resort employee has done that at least once.
I plead the 5th lol


:tongue: C'mon, SPILL THE BEANS!!

It was somewhat of a tradition of mine to get whacked every season! :laugh:

#33 iceberg210

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Posted 05 April 2009 - 06:45 PM

Once and only once... (So far...)

It was on the old Apex at Solitude. It was a bad snow year and the ramp was really really really low. Granted I was probably 10 at the time but still the ramp was really low as I tried to sit down on the old center pole double the liftie bumped the chair and I only got on part way. My ski grabbed a hold of the snow below as I tried to keep my balance and disengaged the binding. The liftie decided to completely stop the lift so as I was trying to maintain balance on a chair that I was only about a third on the lift stopped throwing me right off the chair as I showed once again that conservation of momentum works! It wasn't too bad I was only a few feet off the ground and I hopped out of the lift line, threw my ski back on and reloaded the lift only a couple chairs latter but still wasn't exactly my favorite experience.
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#34 DonaldMReif

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Posted 11 October 2009 - 07:39 AM

Speaking of the subject, I have never fallen off a lift midway, although some years ago (and not in the past two ski seasons), I have had plenty of my share of mishaps loading or unloading chairlifts.

Here are some of my examples:

In 2007, my dad and I made a two day trip to Crested Butte. On the first day, we made a trip up the Teocalli lift. This taught me to dislike centerpole lifts, since I somehow got pushed away out of the loading area, and ended up riding with another guy one chair behind.

In 2009, I have had two cases (of which I either read or have experience myself).

On January 10, 2009, we were skiing in Breckenridge. While the day went normal in every way, the electronic boards at the base areas were displaying this message:

"Witnesses to incident at Mercury lift please contact lift attendant or call __________."

You can obviously guess the lift I mean. I can only confirm that, on Peak 9, some incident of some sort happened that involved the Mercury SuperChair. While I rode the Mercury SuperChair four times that day, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary of the lift, although either my dad or my sister saw a guy being taken down in a stretcher. If correct, someone probably had jumped from the lift.

That March, my dad and I were in Keystone, and loading the Montezuma Express lift. But with a ski school group in front, we were trying to give them a little space for the attendant to load the little kids into the chair (you know, the people who are so short their bottoms aren't above the chair seat when standing). I think we may have waited a bit too long, so we were moving up to the loading area just as the next chair was completing its turnaround. What happened next ended up with one of my skis coming off, having to come up two chairs behind us. It made it very awkward to get off the Montezuma Express lift at the top.


I should also note that a high speed quad is defined as "a chairlift that has the ability to carry all four people needed for a self-contained mishap at the unloading area, including the skier who made the misunloading first, the skier who ran into him, the skier who ran into the first two, and one witness." A high speed six pack is a chairlift that carries all four people needed for a self-contained unloading mishap plus two more, including the skier who made the misunloading first, the skier who ran into him, the skier who ran into the first two, the skier who ran into the first three, and two witnesses.

This post has been edited by DonaldMReif: 12 October 2009 - 06:01 AM

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#35 Carl

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Posted 11 October 2009 - 07:03 PM

Yup, loading the Heron/Poma Triple "Casper" at JH. Me, Molas and a large "tourist" loaded. The big guy's skis had gotten tangled up and were dragging on the inside ramp's wood edge.
I'd loaded with my usual "smug/local" plan, i.e. tuck the ski poles under the leg as I set down. The next thing I knew I was face first on the end of the ramp. :D

I bailed out of the old Thunder Double back in '75. It stopped then rolled back 50-80 feet, very slowly. Many, many riders bailed while it was "rolling" but I waited to see if it accelerated or
stayed slow. It stayed slow and stopped. The word came up the line "evac" and I was at about the mid point. Skiing was good so I figured "bail out" and head to Casper. The pow-pow was
about 24" in my LZ!

Carl

#36 DonaldMReif

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Posted 10 February 2011 - 04:44 PM

This past Martin Luther King weekend, I saw one rather big fall, sort of. It was at the Rocky Mountain SuperChair. Whatever it was kept the lift stopped for a while. From what I could see, it looked like three people were loading a chair and all three managed to fall off the lift just as the chair hit the portal assembly. Two of them walked away, and one needed to be helped by ski patrol. I think they were not paying attention to the chair. Not to mention that on that lift, the chairs start accelerating almost as soon as you sit down.
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#37 cjb

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Posted 10 February 2011 - 06:24 PM

Yep, good thing I had my harness on :biggrin:

#38 Emax

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Posted 10 February 2011 - 07:09 PM

I fell off Alta's Germania machine room once - 1978. No breaks, just sore for a week or so. Toolbox in one hand, grabbing rungs with the other. That last rung on a Yan ladder is set back a few inches... missed it. The fall took about an hour and a half.
There are three roads to ruin; women, gambling and technicians. The most pleasant is with women, the quickest is with gambling, but the surest is with technicians. Georges Pompidou

#39 liftmech

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Posted 11 February 2011 - 05:01 AM

I think we've all done the one-handed climb a few times. One of our guys shattered his ankle after successfully grabbing all but the top rung. Time for a rope to hoist up the tools.
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#40 Emax

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Posted 11 February 2011 - 06:16 AM

View PostEmax, on 10 February 2011 - 07:09 PM, said:

I fell off Alta's Germania machine room once - 1978. No breaks, just sore for a week or so. Toolbox in one hand, grabbing rungs with the other. That last rung on a Yan ladder is set back a few inches... missed it. The fall took about an hour and a half.

After thinking about it, I correct myself i it was 1975. Germania then had really high machine room. Anyone at Alta remember John Bryce? He was my boss that year. He now owns Technisis in SLC.
There are three roads to ruin; women, gambling and technicians. The most pleasant is with women, the quickest is with gambling, but the surest is with technicians. Georges Pompidou





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