Malfunctioning Chair Lift

[CarverJill]

This has been all over my FB today:
"At least eight people were injured after a chair lift at a Georgia ski resort malfunctioned, Georgia Today and Russian media outlets reported. "

Thats Georgia the country you know, next to Russia and Turkey. So scary. I would have jumped off for sure but how does this even happen???

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ver-plan-to-ski-again/?utm_term=.a6471ed689c8

 

[santacruz skier]

Saw that on Tahoe TV this morning. Terrifying.

 

[marzNC]

Very scary. However, not sure the Pravda article that the Washington Post article used as the primary source has the best info. Key point is that there was a rollback at high speed. Eventually a chair with four people on it whipped around the bullwheel so fast that they were thrown out and the chair got stuck. Then the next few chairs piled up until the lift finally stopped.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/europe/georgia-ski-lift-accident-intl/index.html

 

[DeeSki]

I’m not afraid of heights but if I was I’d never get on a lift again. Why would this happen? I think I read it was a Doppelmayr lift from 1996. Is that old for a chairlift? How often are they replaced? I know that when ski areas upgrade their lifts, the old lifts are often sold to smaller ski areas, so I’m sure it’s not the oldest lift around. Very bad publicity for skiing in Georgia. I know some people who’ve skied there and it looks beautiful.

 

[SallyCat]

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?

At any rate, I love the company's statement that the accident caused "health injury of medium gravity." All things considered, medium gravity is a good outcome.

 

[SkiBam]

That looked absolutely terrifying.

Must make a confession though. When I first saw this, I thought, wow, I didn't know there was skiing in Georgia - and look at all that snow! (thinking of the U.S. Georgia) - stupid me.

 

[marzNC]

I’m not afraid of heights but if I was I’d never get on a lift again. Why would this happen? I think I read it was a Doppelmayr lift from 1996. Is that old for a chairlift? How often are they replaced? I know that when ski areas upgrade their lifts, the old lifts are often sold to smaller ski areas, so I’m sure it’s not the oldest lift around. Very bad publicity for skiing in Georgia. I know some people who’ve skied there and it looks beautiful.

Peter of Liftblog decided it was a fixed-grip lift from 2008. He also noted that "Note that fixed-grip lift models Doppelmayr sells in the U.S. and Canada differ significantly from those found in Europe and elsewhere." Doppelmayr has people on the way to investigate.

https://liftblog.com/2018/03/16/high-speed-rollback-in-georgia-injures-eight/

 

[DeeSki]

I got the date wrong. According to The Guardian
“A spokesperson for Doppelmayr, the Austrian manufacturer of the chairlift, said two technicians were in transit to Georgia to respond to the incident. No initial cause was given. The fixed-grip four-seat chairlift was installed at the Georgian ski resort in 2007. The design includes an emergency brake and backup power generator, the company said.”

 

[newboots]

That looked absolutely terrifying.

Must make a confession though. When I first saw this, I thought, wow, I didn't know there was skiing in Georgia - and look at all that snow! (thinking of the U.S. Georgia) - stupid me.

Many people had that same moment!

 

[Lilia]

That Georgia is one of the few skiing places near Russia. The country is huge and lots of snow, but not many places for alpine skiing.

 

[DeeSki]

I think you meant the mountains are huge. The country is pretty small. It sounds like there’s tons of potential for skiing but the relationship with Russia since the break up of the Soviet Union has been very shaky and there are all sorts of other issues so it hasn’t been developed. One of the news reports I saw said that a criminal investigation is being opened into this incident. It will be interesting to see if anything comes of it.

 

[Lilia]

Yes, I meant Russia is huge in size but no real mountains, not Georgia. You are right.

 

[DeeSki]

Now I get it, @Lilia! I’d never really thought about the possibilities for skiing in Russia but now that you mention it, when we were in Austria my husband got talking to a Russian skier going up the lift. I asked him if he ever skied the Caucuses and he said no, only the Alps and mostly Austria because the infrastructure and overall experience is better.

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

The video is horrifying!

 

[nopoleskier]

Here's a video of a Demo of what happens when lifts get out of control!
Very scary

Sugarloaf Maine had a roll back malfunction a few years back, 7 injured.
Some lifts "DO" run backwards, it is usually posted as you get on (Telluride has one that had the signage)

I'd Definitely jump off before going around the bull wheel!!

Glad the latest incident in Georgia there were no serious injuries!

 

[santacruz skier]

Here's a video of a Demo of what happens when lifts get out of control!
Very scary

Sugarloaf Maine had a roll back malfunction a few years back, 7 injured.
Some lifts "DO" run backwards, it is usually posted as you get on (Telluride has one that had the signage)

I'd Definitely jump off before going around the bull wheel!!

Glad the latest incident in Georgia there were no serious injuries!

Heard there were 5two serious injuries . Probably one was the guy who flung into the bullwheel. BTW are you in Reno now?

 

[CarverJill]

That video from Winter park test in 1990 was the one I was thinking of when watching the video in Georgia. I imagine they had a similar malfunction. So many crazy things happened in Russia, I guess its Georgia too now.

 

[DeeSki]

I'd Definitely jump off before going around the bull wheel!!

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!

 

[Randi M.]

I had no idea that kind of thing was even possible. I saw an early, unedited video on Facebook and I’m honestly surprised people who went around the wheel didn’t die. Definitely safer to jump off. Something to keep in the back of one’s mind, hopefully never to be used.

 

[marzNC]

I had no idea that kind of thing was even possible. I saw an early, unedited video on Facebook and I’m honestly surprised people who went around the wheel didn’t die. Definitely safer to jump off. Something to keep in the back of one’s mind, hopefully never to be used.

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.