The culprit. Photo: Colorado Dept. of Regulatory Agencies
A chairlift malfunction can quickly turn a ski run into an ordeal. Earlier this year, Vail Resort visitors experienced that first-hand, when a malfunction brought a lift to a sudden stop – launching two skiers out of it in the process. Now, investigators have revealed what exactly caused the trouble.
The initial incident occurred on January 25 at Vail’s Little Eagle, a beginner lift near the top of the Eagle Bahn Gondola. Witnesses reported hearing a loud noise and a cable snapping, followed by a father and young son being thrown off a chair. For the following 90 minutes, Vail Mountain Ski Patrol used ropes to evacuate the 40 guests left stuck onboard. In the end, no injuries were reported.
Following the incident, officials from the Colorado Passenger Tramway Board performed an investigation as to the cause, during which time the lift remained closed. As CBS reports, the ensuing 19-page report found the source of the failure to be a component of the sheave train assembly that was installed upside down during the lift’s construction in 2007.
Though an upside down part sounds like a serious blunder, investigators specified that the misaligned part would have actually been hard to spot during routine inspections.”Recognizing that the sheave train was not installed correctly for the 4N configuration proved to be extremely difficult,” they wrote. “Until the clearances were physically measured, there was no indication of a lack of clearance, and the physical difference between the configurations is very difficult to visually observe.” They added that, “clearances should have been reviewed by the design engineer/installer at the time of installation.”
