Industry News
An adaptive skier is suing Aspen Skiing Co. claiming a chairlift operator negligently misloaded her onto a chair at Snowmass, CO causing her to fall 17-feet to the ground.
Allison Nicola, 33 at the time and in a sit-ski, was boarding the Elk Camp lift at Snowmass on 26th February 2019. She alleges a chairlift operator negligently misloaded her onto the chair. Moments later she fell 17 feet to the ground, with another operator landing on top of her.
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The lawsuit claims she suffered “permanent physical injuries”; a head injury, left cerebral hemorrhage, and spinal and vertebral fractures.
An article in the Aspen Times at the time of the incident reported that Nicola was in Aspen for a Disabled Sports USA event.
She was not fully seated in the lift when it took off with just her and not her instructor aboard, the article also said, attributing the information to a Skico official. A lift attendant, trying to keep the woman on the chairlift, grabbed her from behind and was carried up by the lift.
A second lift attendant stopped the chair and both individuals fell to the ground between towers 2 and 3, Skico spokesman Jeff Hanle said at the time.
According to the suit, Nicola seeks compensation for “injuries and damages in the past, present and future, including for past, present and future medical expenses, for past, present and future pain and suffering, for personal injuries, for emotional distress, for loss of the ability to enjoy life as she did before the accident, permanent physical injuries and for other non-economic damages.”
It is not known if the lift operator who also fell while attempting to save her suffered any injuries.
