Chairlift accident in France

[rhymeandreason]

There was a terrible chairlift accident in Châtel in Haute-Savoie - a young girl somehow had her head entrapped by the safety bar.

https://nltimes.nl/2019/02/22/dutch-girl-6-seriously-hurt-getting-stuck-french-ski-lift

I am assuming it was one of those automatic bars?

This made me think about ski school policy on placing kids with other adults. The other day, ski school was getting on a detachable quad two chairs in front of me. The instructor had 4 kids, so he asked the three adults in the chair behind him to take one of the children, who looked to be 5 or 6. They agreed and she loaded uneventfully. I looked away to get on my own chair and the lift stopped because somehow, the girl had tumbled out. Fortunately, there was a large pile of fresh snow below the lift and she only fell a distance of 2-3 feet, and she was unhurt. I didn't see why she fell, but I noticed that the bar was up on her chair and after the lift started moving again, the three adults never lowered their bar.

What is the policy at your resort, or is there one? I think everyone has to right to decline taking a child up, and the instructor did ask them if they were willing. I wish I had been a little quicker to the lift line and had been the one to ride with this child. I always hold my poles in one hand and use my straightened arm to push my 6 year old back until the bar is down. He protests, but he's short and has two weights attached to his feet in the form of boots and skis. Again, I didn't see the girl's fall, but I did feel annoyed at the adults, but perhaps it wasn't their fault.

 

[rhymeandreason]

By the way, another article, in French, says that the child was on the chair with adults she did not know and that the instructor saw she was injured as he/she was waiting for the child at the top.

 

[santacruz skier]

Chatel is part of the Portes du Soleil and a wonderful area for families. I have done several circuits from the Swiss side over to ski stations in the French part including Chatel and Super Chatel. Total area of Portes du Soleil must have over 300 lifts.
That is so sad to hear about the accident and hope the little girl is okay. Trying to understand how that event even happened as no one was paying attention...... Getting on lifts in Europe in general (IMO) is a bit crazy and can be a free for all. Some resorts are more civilized about approaching chairs/gondolas/trams than others.

 

[rhymeandreason]

@santacruz skier, do you know if any of the chairs have automatic bars? I can't imagine a manual bar exerting enough pressure to asphyxiate a child unless someone was leaning on it. Agree that the so called queue for the lifts in Europe is very different from what we have in the US.

If I didn't have young children, I wouldn't know that you have to really make sure they are pushed all the way back into the seat and to make sure their legs/limbs/poles/ are not pinched in the seat rest. I can see how adults who are excited to ski. conversing with each other, and not particularly interested in children, could ignore a quiet child. If there had been only one adult, he/she would have been more likely to notice. They must feel absolutely sick with guilt. No one wants a slow lift, but perhaps ski school should ask lifties to slow the lifts for unaccompanied kids so they can lower the bar for them and make sure they are seated correctly.

 

[santacruz skier]

I don't know if they have automatic bars but many areas do.... really weird unfortunate accident

 

[Jilly]

Tremblant has as enforcement for kids under a certain height. It's posted at every lift. Usually it's 2 adults to 2 kids. The worst was the old 3 seater. I would take 2 kids, one on each side. I would put my poles across my lap and hold in the kids with the poles. There was as safety bar, but some kids can't reach the foot rest. And I wasn't sure how they wouldn't slip between the bar and the seat. Now the new quad has posts that go between your legs....no more sliding kids!!

 

[newboots]

What a horrible accident. But the adults on the chair with her didn’t notice? For a five-minute ride? I can’t imagine that.

 

[rhymeandreason]

Not only that, but if my French is correct, the adults were either unaware and skied off or no one took their information, because they are being sought. Because it was a new chairlift, there were souvenir photos taken of each chair at the bottom, so they have a photo of the adults.

What a horrible accident. But the adults on the chair with her didn’t notice? For a five-minute ride? I can’t imagine that.

I hope there is something more to this story - perhaps the child wasn't really stuck and had a medical emergency on the chair as they approached the top? As others have said, it's hard to imagine not noticing that the child was in trouble.

 

[captain_hug99]

What a horrible accident. But the adults on the chair with her didn’t notice? For a five-minute ride? I can’t imagine that.

EXACTLY How do you not notice?

 

[snoWYmonkey]

Watching video on the french news it looks like a manual, not automatic, safety bar. It looks like it was a 6 person chair. They are looking for the culprits who will likely be charged for involuntary harm and not providing aid to an injured person. It is indeed quite odd. She would have had to have been completely leaning out over the side arm rest to have her neck wedged. I wonder if a piece of clothing was pinching her and somehow caught in the chair, but she was still upright thus appearing fine? All of it quite tragic.

 

[rhymeandreason]

Just to let you know, there was an update on this story - turns out the other adults on the lift did not leave the scene and it was one of them who alerted the liftie when the little girl didn’t respond at the top. The automatic bar had lowered on her arm and shoulder and she lost consciousness due to the pain. The adults said she didn’t cry out and they assumed she was just looking at the piste since she was turned away from them. I’m surprised that the bar didn’t have a feedback sensor (similar to the automatically closing rear doors on an suv) to prevent something like this from happening. I haven’t come across an automated bar in the US.

 

[newboots]

Thanks for the update.

 

[Cyprissa]

One thing I noticed in Europe that was extremely frustrating is that at least in Italy and Austria people slam the bar down without checking first. I have been hit in the head a few times because I have short legs and it takes me a minute to get situated. This is a terrible, horrible incident.

 

[minqea]

What a horrible accident. But the adults on the chair with her didn’t notice? For a five-minute ride? I can’t imagine that.

me either.. just can not imagine that.. 5-6 minutes ? sounds unbelievable.

I also prefer to put poles across or just to hold my child (even she does not like it..)
I have not experienced people slaming the bar down but I do not like (and understand) why they usually open the bar far away from the end of the lift when the chair is still so at high..

 

[SkiGAP]

bars always go down where I ski. As for kids, the leftmost place in the chair is often for kids, a different color material with an extra "crotch stopper" (my term), to stop little ones from falling out. Not unusual to be asked by the lifties to look after a kid that you have never seen before (or will again) during the ride up.