Skier Files $3.6-Million Lawsuit Against Willamette Pass, OR, After Wind Blew Him Off Chairlift

A 65-year-old skier has filed a $3.6 million lawsuit against Willamette Pass ski resort in Oregon, claiming he suffered severe injuries after falling from a chairlift during windy conditions last year, Aimee Green reports for The Oregonian/OregonLive.

In the suit filed Friday, Paul Richmond, a Lincoln County resident, alleges that the Peak 2 chairlift lacked a safety restraint bar when he and his 10-year-old grandson boarded on January 15, 2023. Strong winds caused the chair to swing unpredictably, eventually throwing Richmond off after passing the second tower.

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According to court documents, Richmond clung to the bottom of the chair for several seconds before plummeting 25 to 40 feet. The fall resulted in compression and burst fractures to four vertebrae, along with multiple soft tissue injuries.

The suit names Mountain Capital Partners, Oregon Skyway, Willamette Pass Holdings, and Willamette Pass Ski Patrol as defendants.

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Richmond’s lawyers claim their client, an experienced skier with one leg due to childhood amputation, has faced a grueling recovery. The lawsuit states that Richmond was hospitalized for four days in Bend following the incident, underwent emergency back surgery in Corvallis a month later, and required hernia repair surgery months after that.

While not mandated by law, many ski resorts have installed restraint bars on their lifts following new standards set by the American National Standards Institute within the past decade.

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Richmond’s medical bills have reportedly exceeded $330,000, with an additional $250,000 anticipated for future medical costs. The lawsuit was filed in Lane County Circuit Court by attorneys Darian Stanford, Paul Conable, and Sadie Concepción.

Willamette Pass Resort is a ski area located in Oregon, about an hour’s drive from Eugene. It offers 555 acres of skiable terrain with 29 trails, a vertical drop of 1,563 feet, and an impressive average annual snowfall of 430 inches. The resort features Oregon’s first six-pack chairlift and boasts some of the steepest runs in the Pacific Northwest, including RTS, which was initially built as a speed skiing course. While relatively small compared to other Oregon ski areas, Willamette Pass is known for its excellent tree skiing, challenging expert terrain, and uncrowded slopes.