Eldora Resort, Coloradan
A 6-year-old Ski School student named Marielle Larrimer fell from a lift at Eldora Ski Resort on February 22nd. Marielle was loaded on the lift with another ski school student when she fell from the chair, injuring her pelvis and leg. The lift did not come equipped with safety bars. Marielle began the lift ride only partially loaded on the chair and was not able to pull herself up.
Marielle Larimer CBS Denver via Studio Serendipity Photography
Marielle Larimer Parents of Ski School students at the Colorado resort have now started a petition to raise safety standards and policies for students and children. Larisa Wilder and Leigh Fiske, parents of ski school students at Eldora, have put together the petition The petition asks that the loading policies of students six and under must be changed. Among the changes is that children under 6 must be accompanied by an adult at all times. If an adult is not available, parents of the children must be allowed to ride the lift with no ticket fee. They also insist that all staff must be retrained correctly in loading procedures and that all lifts come equipped with safety bars.
The Petition currently has 1,006 signatures with a goal of 1500.
Eldora released a statement concerning the incidents on Sunday, February 24th.
Eldora is proud to be a family-friendly mountain. Many of the staff at Eldora are parents themselves whose kids are growing up, or have grown up, learning to ski or ride at the resort. Thousands of kids enjoy our ski and ride school programs each year. What happened on Sunday involving a six-year-old-female guest, who was enrolled in ski and ride school when she fell approximately 29 feet from a carrier on Eldora’s Sundance chairlift, is extremely rare.
We take safety seriously, from the way we train our teams to the way we operate the resort. As such, and in light of Sunday’s incident, we are reviewing all of our policies and procedures related to children on lifts. We will continue to take steps that ensure Eldora remains a safe and great place to learn.
Our thoughts are with the family and we hope for a speedy recovery. If you are interested, we encourage you to visit the National Ski Area Association’s website, KidsOnLifts.org, to learn more about safety for children on lifts.
If you would like to follow this story and read the full petition, you may do so here
Our local ski area addressed the issue of children mis-loading on lifts by lowering the chair clearance on the chairlift most often used by children, to reflect the fact that they are shorter than adults. This means adults have to be careful to avoid getting hit in the calf when loading.
Learn and follow the skiers responsibility code , skiers must load , ride , and unload safely. Why are so many kids falling off chair lifts ?
My guess is that they are fooling around and not paying attention to what they are doing.
I rode chairlifts by myself as a kid and never once fell off . Turn off your cell phone and pay attention to what you are doing. Parents bear some responsibility for teaching their children how to load, ride and unload safely from a chair lift.
That really is not it with these littlest ones. I have to pull my daughter onto the chair about one of every two rides as her hips end up below the seat because they just do not fall back into the sweet spot like adults do.