Malfunctioning Chair Lift

[marzNC]

I don’t think I’d have had the presence of mind to jump off before going around the bull wheel. I think I would have assumed that it would stop before that happened. I know now!

This video was taken from the far enough away to get a sense of how little time people had to make a decision to jump. Those who were higher up when the rollback started must have known that something was very wrong before they reached the second tower above the base.

 

[marzNC]

The articles in Georgia Today, an English language news outlet, mentions the number of people who stayed in the hospital. The final count was 11 injured and 5 hospitalized. Includes two who are more seriously injured.

https://georgiatoday.ge/news/9522/Most-Patients-Discharged-from-Hospital-after-Gudauri-Incident-

https://georgiatoday.ge/news/9518/Gudauri:-Ministry-of-Internal-Affairs-Launches-Investigation-

 

[MaineSkiLady]

A rollback is pretty much at the high end of “malfunction.” It’s catacylsmic.

The rollback of the King Pine chairlift at Sugarloaf, ME, was on 3/21/15. I was there, although not at that region of the mountain. We did, however, have 2 friends who had headed over that way. So it was tense bit of texting and calling. They had not been on the chairlift.

The rollback wasn’t anything like the one in Georgia, which was high speed. King Pine did get moving, but in those tense 15 seconds, the lift operators were able to engage a 3rd (of 3) brakes and stop the lift. Those who remained on it were evacuated.

A full investigation ensued. There was considerable conjecture leading up to the results (which are public record and online).

Ultimately, the chairlift lower terminal was rebuilt. The remainder of it is original. It is a fixed grip quad.

The whole lift failure situation at eastern resorts operated (and now owned) by Boyne - 2 at Sugarloaf, 1 at Sunday River - exemplify my exasperation at the multi-million dollar upgrades to Boyne resorts in the west, some of which seem a bit unnecessary (8 pack high speed at Big Sky).

Sugarloaf’s original double chairlift was removed several years ago. There are no plans to replace it. (Yes, we miss it.)

Sunday River has many retrofitted Yan chairlifts that are heavily aging and breaking down with regularity.

These 2 resorts - especially Sunday River - can get quite busy, and both are in serious need of infrastructure upgrades and replacements.

I’m dismayed and sorry for all those involved in the lift rollback at the resort in Georiga.

 

[slyfox4]

Yesterday at Loon our chair stopped and I instantly thought of this video. It let to a conversation with my ski buddies about what we'd do, which then led to us scoping spots to jump if we had to. We were on the Kanc Quad, but I couldn't imagine being in this situation in a Gondola. How terrifying, I am so glad that there weren't any deaths!

 

[captain_hug99]

As I was on the lift today I was thinking of this as well.

 

[newboots]

We were plotting our jump landing zones on several lifts in the last few days. Backcountry gets more appealing all the time!

 

[marzNC]

Don't know if this is good or bad, but the investigation of the Gudauri rollback points to human error as the primary cause. The investigation was handled by an independent company, Bureau Veritas.

https://liftblog.com/2018/03/23/government-human-error-caused-gudauri-rollback/

" . . .
Georgian Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Dimitry Kumsishvili held a press conference today to announce initial findings of an investigation into the rollback of a 2007 Doppelmayr quad chair at the Gudauri ski resort, which injured 11 people a week ago. French firm Bureau Veritas confirmed the lift’s initial stop was caused by a power outage. “After the chairlift was stopped, the operator had to introduce specific sequence of procedures and after implementation of the certain actions, the operator had to switch the chairlift on to the diesel generator power and bring the tourist to the safe site,” a translated press release reads. “Unfortunately, according to the current conclusion, the operator made a mistake. The combination of the actions that he should have had carried out were not implemented in compliance with the relevant instructions – it was a human error.

The report notes the chairlift had undergone an inspection in December and was in “perfect technical order.” The operator on duty at the time has been fired and may face criminal charges at the conclusion of the investigation. The Head of Gudauri Mountain Management and Deputy Director of the Mountain Resort Development Company have both resigned in the wake of the incident.
. . ."

 

[dloveski]

This video was taken from the side where people landed who were thrown off from the one chair with four people that then got stuck in the bullwhip. I'm guessing that he and others watching were yelling at those on chairs rolling back close to the base to "jump." The man in yellow lands close to the man with the GoPro. Easy to feel the shock in the crowd after the lift finally comes to a stop.

I don't know that it's an age-of-lift thing or more of a failure to inspect and maintain. Wouldn't that happen if there's a power outage and the braking system failed?

Having been stuck on a lift last week, in the wind and snow, for 45 minutes with two young skiers, the "Georgia" incident came up---the kids had seen it on You Tube. Also, having a son in charge of Lift Ops at that resort, I was able to assure the youngsters that:

--there is a diesel backup
--there are brakes
--ski patrol has great evacuation techniques

that said---the lifts are aging and corporations tend to harvest their infrastructure as long as possible. Many first gen detachable quads are in use today (from the 1980s) . On a powder day, the lifts get loaded (4 per chair every chair) and if a fuse blows, the weight makes it difficult to restart (blowing said fuses). And it is hard on the lift maintenance crew who sweat bullets.

I'd just like to give a shout out to those unseen hard working teams working year-round, through the nights, up on towers in storms, to enable us to ride uphill with confidence. And for little relative pay. And mechanics and hydraulics and electronics have to all sync together in harsh environments (with mouse droppings and chewing wires in those high-up huts)---so it's amazing more things don't go wrong more often.

P.S. We finally got to the top on diesel power, the kids were frozen and shivering, we skied down in deep powder, and entered the lodge with 2 kids in tears. Yet-----two hours later, they rode the same lift (twice) and had a blast the rest of the day.

 

[Christy]

How can you plot or scope out spots to jump? If there is a big fast rollback, you have to bail whereever you are, right?

 

[Cascadia]

Just before this came out I read about another roll back accident at Hayak (now Snoqualmie East) on the Dinosaur lift in I think the early 70s https://hyak.net/articles/12_71.html
The crazy thing is I’ve later learned that one of the “new” lifts at Hayak is a Franken-lift made of parts from old lifts. A lot of the double lifts are pretty darn old. I remember one night at Snoqualmie West when the Dodge Ridge cable was bouncing so hard (no wind!) the chair would bash in the first tower. The snowboarders would have to stay in the left side of the double if they were regular and didn’t want their board clanked into the tower.