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So this happened yesterday at Vail… It’s just one more reason to always put the bar down on the lift. The guy fell at least 20 feet about 45 seconds after getting on the lift.
After falling he just laid there. No one knew if he was ok – at least from our vantage point. It was pretty scary to watch and then just watch him lay there with the lift line guys trying to run up hill in super deep snow. He got up about 10 minutes later and waved to the crowd at the Avanti lift (Vail) but rode down with ski patrol. We all cheered a huge sigh of relief…
I showed this video to my daughter and she told me she had ridden the same lift up and about at that point the lift jumped. That’s when her crew put the bar down. 🙄The husband and I put the bar down ASAP so I never noticed.
I am a big believer in the bar. Some think that it is somehow a badge of courage to leave the bar up. I never doubt anyone’s ability to stay on the chair – unless the lift experiences a catastrophic failure, as is known to happen. In one incident in PA, 29 skiers and riders caught air that they were not expecting.