People who sue ski areas should be shot.

I sued a ski resort, and won.

The year was roughly 2007-2008. The resort, SnowBasin, Utah. It had been snowing heavily for almost a week and the strawberry gondola had been shut down during the storm. I and a few friends timed it right and were on the lift drooling at the fresh tracks we were going to consume. As the lift neared the top a snowcat grooming the trail directly under the lift was approaching. I could see clearly that the increase in snow levels wasn't accounted for and the boom of the cat was going to hit the gondola I was in.

I stood up and tried to run to the other side of this small gondola when it hit. That's all I remember.

I woke up in a life flight helicopter on the way to the hospital, my world was nothing but pain. Eventually I was on the path to health when the medical bills starting coming in. I called Snowbasin assuming they would have no problem paying the tab for the life flight and hospital stay. Boy was I wrong - they denied it ever happened, they tried to tell me I faked the whole thing, they told patrollers nothign happened (as recounted to me by a good friend who was a patroller) They took the busted up gondola out of rotation and hid it.

I was unemployed with 30k in medical bills. I called a lawyer. He wanted me to go for as much as I could, I held back his intentions and settled for enough to cover the bills. In hindsight I was dumb as to this day I still have pain from that incident - I should have sued them for every penny they had.

Ski resorts are businesses, many are just evil empires, with a few exceptions. When they do wrong, Sue the hell out if them.

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Originally Posted by frozenwater

I sued a ski resort, and won.

The year was roughly 2007-2008. The resort, SnowBasin, Utah. It had been snowing heavily for almost a week and the strawberry gondola had been shut down during the storm. I and a few friends timed it right and were on the lift drooling at the fresh tracks we were going to consume. As the lift neared the top a snowcat grooming the trail directly under the lift was approaching. I could see clearly that the increase in snow levels wasn't accounted for and the boom of the cat was going to hit the gondola I was in.

I stood up and tried to run to the other side of this small gondola when it hit. That's all I remember.

I woke up in a life flight helicopter on the way to the hospital, my world was nothing but pain. Eventually I was on the path to health when the medical bills starting coming in. I called Snowbasin assuming they would have no problem paying the tab for the life flight and hospital stay. Boy was I wrong - they denied it ever happened, they tried to tell me I faked the whole thing, they told patrollers nothign happened (as recounted to me by a good friend who was a patroller) They took the busted up gondola out of rotation and hid it.

I was unemployed with 30k in medical bills. I called a lawyer. He wanted me to go for as much as I could, I held back his intentions and settled for enough to cover the bills. In hindsight I was dumb as to this day I still have pain from that incident - I should have sued them for every penny they had.

Ski resorts are businesses, many are just evil empires, with a few exceptions. When they do wrong, Sue the hell out if them.

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The cat knocked the gondola off the line with you and a few friends in it?

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Originally Posted by frozenwater

Ski resorts are businesses, many are just evil empires, with a few exceptions. When they do wrong, Sue the hell out if them.

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It's the american way!

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Originally Posted by LHutz Esq

This will have to be one of the first things we fix when Canada annexes Oregon. Along with universal medical, comes the freedom to accept the risk of doing risky things!

For those visiting the great north before the wall goes up - waivers here do mean something and do have force- so buy insurance.

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We welcome new overlords from Ottawa & Victoria
I recommend Canada does not annex the counties that want to become part of Idaho

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Originally Posted by MakersTeleMark

https://www.powder.com/news/adaptive...from-chairlift

???

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I’ve worked with adaptive skiers for more than 10 years. This situation makes little sense.

The article sez he’s an experienced sit-skier. It also sounds like he was riding independently (no able-body assist necessary to load/unload)

At least here at Mt Brokenchair Independent sitskiers do not get buckled into the lift. And the safety bars on the mountain’s Dopplemayer chairs do not provide any restraint for a bucket (sitski). We hook our student’s buckets to the chair backrest by web and a ‘biner. But we have an instructor and a volunteer on each side of the bucket to assist the loading, securing, unsecuring and offloading.

Independent bucket riders sit to the far side of the chair so they can use one rail to brace as needed.

So i don’t understand how the lift operator was supposed to secure this guy to the chair. And if a lift operator was needed to secure him to the chair when loading, just how was the rider supposed to unsecure himself at the top?

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Originally Posted by TBS

We welcome new overlords from Ottawa & Victoria
I recommend Canada does not annex the counties that want to become part of Idaho

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Shouldn't it be the other way around...what happened to 54' 40" or fight?

That idea ended with The Pig War of 1859

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Originally Posted by frozenwater

I sued a ski resort, and won.

The year was roughly 2007-2008. The resort, SnowBasin, Utah. It had been snowing heavily for almost a week and the strawberry gondola had been shut down during the storm. I and a few friends timed it right and were on the lift drooling at the fresh tracks we were going to consume. As the lift neared the top a snowcat grooming the trail directly under the lift was approaching. I could see clearly that the increase in snow levels wasn't accounted for and the boom of the cat was going to hit the gondola I was in.

I stood up and tried to run to the other side of this small gondola when it hit. That's all I remember.

I woke up in a life flight helicopter on the way to the hospital, my world was nothing but pain. Eventually I was on the path to health when the medical bills starting coming in. I called Snowbasin assuming they would have no problem paying the tab for the life flight and hospital stay. Boy was I wrong - they denied it ever happened, they tried to tell me I faked the whole thing, they told patrollers nothign happened (as recounted to me by a good friend who was a patroller) They took the busted up gondola out of rotation and hid it.

I was unemployed with 30k in medical bills. I called a lawyer. He wanted me to go for as much as I could, I held back his intentions and settled for enough to cover the bills. In hindsight I was dumb as to this day I still have pain from that incident - I should have sued them for every penny they had.

Ski resorts are businesses, many are just evil empires, with a few exceptions. When they do wrong, Sue the hell out if them.

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Jesus, what a shitty story, sorry you had to go through that. Nothing pisses me off more than corporation's lying liars and their lawyers.

I feel really bad now that we are going to have shoot you.

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Originally Posted by muted reborn

Jesus, what a shitty story, sorry you had to go through that. Nothing pisses me off more than corporation's lying liars and their lawyers.

I feel really bad now that we are going to have shoot you.

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[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

But yeah Frozen, that's fucked. You should have sued for more.

We all know Scot meant people skiing out of control or beyond their limits and crash into whatever and blame x, y, or z and not themselves...they should be shot.

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Originally Posted by frozenwater

I sued a ski resort, and won.

The year was roughly 2007-2008. The resort, SnowBasin, Utah. It had been snowing heavily for almost a week and the strawberry gondola had been shut down during the storm. I and a few friends timed it right and were on the lift drooling at the fresh tracks we were going to consume. As the lift neared the top a snowcat grooming the trail directly under the lift was approaching. I could see clearly that the increase in snow levels wasn't accounted for and the boom of the cat was going to hit the gondola I was in.

I stood up and tried to run to the other side of this small gondola when it hit. That's all I remember.

I woke up in a life flight helicopter on the way to the hospital, my world was nothing but pain. Eventually I was on the path to health when the medical bills starting coming in. I called Snowbasin assuming they would have no problem paying the tab for the life flight and hospital stay. Boy was I wrong - they denied it ever happened, they tried to tell me I faked the whole thing, they told patrollers nothign happened (as recounted to me by a good friend who was a patroller) They took the busted up gondola out of rotation and hid it.

I was unemployed with 30k in medical bills. I called a lawyer. He wanted me to go for as much as I could, I held back his intentions and settled for enough to cover the bills. In hindsight I was dumb as to this day I still have pain from that incident - I should have sued them for every penny they had.

Ski resorts are businesses, many are just evil empires, with a few exceptions. When they do wrong, Sue the hell out if them.

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Mine wasn’t as bad but in 98’ I was riding a lift at Indian Head and it started swinging side to side, kept getting worse until it swung into the tower and got caught on the tower guard. It pulled the chair back then ripped it off the cable. I and the chair fell 20’ and broke my arm and thumb. Indian Head blamed me for shaking the lift. Engineers report found they had modified the tower guards putting them too far out and made it so the chair gained sideways momentum. Attorney was totally incompetent and just kept pushing us to settle. Mediators recommended $50k in damages but Indian Head refused and offered $25K. Attorney told us we had little choice but to accept or spend $10s of thousands of dollars to take it to trial. Engineer cost $10k, attorney took $8k, and the health insurer who paid my medical bills took $10k. His practice went under a year later.

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Originally Posted by TBS

That idea ended with The Pig War of 1859

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No that was where we got to keep the term "bacon" and they had to rename their product Canadian bacon.
I think the Oregon Treaty of 1846 was the end of 54 40 or fight.

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Originally Posted by frozenwater

I sued a ski resort, and won.

The year was roughly 2007-2008. The resort, SnowBasin, Utah. It had been snowing heavily for almost a week and the strawberry gondola had been shut down during the storm. I and a few friends timed it right and were on the lift drooling at the fresh tracks we were going to consume. As the lift neared the top a snowcat grooming the trail directly under the lift was approaching. I could see clearly that the increase in snow levels wasn't accounted for and the boom of the cat was going to hit the gondola I was in.

I stood up and tried to run to the other side of this small gondola when it hit. That's all I remember.

I woke up in a life flight helicopter on the way to the hospital, my world was nothing but pain. Eventually I was on the path to health when the medical bills starting coming in. I called Snowbasin assuming they would have no problem paying the tab for the life flight and hospital stay. Boy was I wrong - they denied it ever happened, they tried to tell me I faked the whole thing, they told patrollers nothign happened (as recounted to me by a good friend who was a patroller) They took the busted up gondola out of rotation and hid it.

I was unemployed with 30k in medical bills. I called a lawyer. He wanted me to go for as much as I could, I held back his intentions and settled for enough to cover the bills. In hindsight I was dumb as to this day I still have pain from that incident - I should have sued them for every penny they had.

Ski resorts are businesses, many are just evil empires, with a few exceptions. When they do wrong, Sue the hell out if them.

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You could have owned Snowbasin and you passed on the opportunity?

Then again, it is pretty absurd what some ski areas do or think they can get away with. Many states have laws exempting them from all but the most negligent BS, and it seems they like to push that past its limit. Snowbowl does the bare minimum of maintenance and sometimes not even that. Customer service to them is like math to a dog. They make money because it's 20 minutes away and everyone else is 1.5hrs+ at highway speed. I can't believe the owner was a doctor. He couldn't have been a very good one.

What about a class action shareholders suit?

Vail Corp stock price decline has attracted the attention of a very predatory law firm. Basically, the case is that Vail's core business model is unsustainable and they damn well knew it. Seems timely given the massive upswelling of hatred for monopoly skiing going on these days. Yeah, file that one in Park City. Slam dunk jury.

What can I say? It couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of people, I guess.

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Originally Posted by neckdeep

What about a class action shareholders suit?

Vail Corp stock price decline has attracted the attention of a very predatory law firm. Basically, the case is that Vail's core business model is unsustainable and they damn well knew it.

What can can I say? It couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of people, I guess.

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Not to take Vail’s side, but what’s the theory here? If it was obvious that the business model was unsustainable why invest? If it wasn’t obvious to investors, can you presume it was obvious to Vail? Or was Vail lying about something?

Since when does it matter if a business model is sustainable?
Line go up or nothing.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a corporations unbridled greed dyck them up, but if anything, lawsuits have been for lack thereof.

And I'm not gonna pretend I'm not scared sometimes on Snowbowl's lifts.
The thing about riblets is they just aren't idiot proof. And they are light and do swing. Any operation outside the norm seems to break them, or a person, or both.
In a way, they're like cars from the same era compared to cars today. Your average crossover is like a different species compared to a sedan from when they used to make riblets. Maybe it'll be time for them to go away soon. Maybe that time is now. Having a main lift that is old, a little difficult, and can't absorb any user or operator error isn't great.

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Originally Posted by J. Barron DeJong

Not to take Vail’s side, but what’s the theory here? If it was obvious that the business model was unsustainable why invest? If it wasn’t obvious to investors, can you presume it was obvious to Vail? Or was Vail lying about something?

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Like I said, it's a "predatory" firm that specializes in wringing multimillion dollar settlements out of corporate scoundrels who just pass those costs on to the customers.

Yay, corporate monopoly skiing. Its soooooo awesome.

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Originally Posted by neufox47

Mine wasn’t as bad but in 98’ I was riding a lift at Indian Head and it started swinging side to side, kept getting worse until it swung into the tower and got caught on the tower guard. It pulled the chair back then ripped it off the cable. I and the chair fell 20’ and broke my arm and thumb. Indian Head blamed me for shaking the lift. Engineers report found they had modified the tower guards putting them too far out and made it so the chair gained sideways momentum. Attorney was totally incompetent and just kept pushing us to settle. Mediators recommended $50k in damages but Indian Head refused and offered $25K. Attorney told us we had little choice but to accept or spend $10s of thousands of dollars to take it to trial. Engineer cost $10k, attorney took $8k, and the health insurer who paid my medical bills took $10k. His practice went under a year later.

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JFC. That's crazy.

Many of us are risk takers moreso than the average person I suppose, so if this happened to the average person or risk averse person it would create a tremendous amount of mental trauma. That alone deserves a big settlement in court. How many average skiers would never ride a lift again if they were in your or Frozens shoes...I think the majority.

Ever notice that they put bamboo in front of manmade obstacles, like old lift tower bases sticking out of the snow, but not rocks and stumps. I don't know if it would actually make a difference, but some lawyer obviously thought it did.

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Originally Posted by stuckathuntermtn

The thing about riblets is they just aren't idiot proof. And they are light and do swing. Any operation outside the norm seems to break them, or a person, or both.
In a way, they're like cars from the same era compared to cars today. Your average crossover is like a different species compared to a sedan from when they used to make riblets. Maybe it'll be time for them to go away soon. Maybe that time is now. Having a main lift that is old, a little difficult, and can't absorb any user or operator error isn't great.

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Riblets use a grip which is woven into the haul rope which seems to amplify any chair swinging caused by wind or awkward loading or people squirming around/bouncing in their seat. It also seems to transmit the movement to the chairs above and below through torquing the cable or something. I spent most of my one season as a liftie babysitting a Riblet with two loading stations, a mid and a top. It was wild.

That's just being responsible. When I cut a blow down on a mtb trail I make damn sure it's out of the way and won't cause a pedal strike. If it's there naturally it is what it is, but as soon as a human touches something it should be their responsibility to make sure it won't impose on the natural flow of things. Of course that's just my personal opinion and with ski areas they've moved half the mtn around...so

I’ll pay less to ride a Riblet.

I used to pay less to ride riblets and still do. Ahh, that sweet gentle swing as you duck your head and make sure the board doesn't slam the tower as you wait for the wind to make it's presence known all the while awaiting the sweet sweet pow.

Sent from my SM-S236DL using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by Brownski

Riblets use a grip which is woven into the haul rope which seems to amplify any chair swinging caused by wind or awkward loading or people squirming around/bouncing in their seat. It also seems to transmit the movement to the chairs above and below through torquing the cable or something. I spent most of my one season as a liftie babysitting a Riblet with two loading stations, a mid and a top. It was wild.

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Oh, do tell. Where was this horror show?

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Originally Posted by lifelinksplit

I used to pay less to ride riblets and still do. Ahh, that sweet gentle swing as you duck your head and make sure the board doesn't slam the tower as you wait for the wind to make it's presence known all the while awaiting the sweet sweet pow.

Sent from my SM-S236DL using Tapatalk

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Bridger riblet in a crosswind was kinda scary.

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Originally Posted by stuckathuntermtn

Oh, do tell. Where was this horror show?.

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Alpine Meadows 94/95 The Weasel double chair. It really was a shit show but I had a lot fun. I described some of of it for NYSB a few years ago

https://nyskiblog.com/the-old-fashioned-stop-n-go/

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Originally Posted by Brownski

Alpine Meadows 94/95 The Weasel double chair. It really was a shit show but I had a lot fun. I described some of of it for NYSB a few years ago

https://nyskiblog.com/the-old-fashioned-stop-n-go/

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Ha! Shocking! An asshole at Kmart!?

Hey, you can have you're own Riblet for 5k
https://skiliftdesigns.com/products/...cIVeLYEFpB2Y5I

It’s a ski area there can’t be an avalanche was the craziest one I heard on the lifts It’s nature and you need to own your responsibility!


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

You've obviously never skied in SE Michigan.

Adding to this thread. Although Im not a big Vail fan, this seems pretty ludicrous to me:

Swallowed by Snow: Lawsuit Filed Against Tahoe Ski Resort

https://www.powder.com/news/heavenly...ow-lawsuit-ski

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Originally Posted by GoldMember

Adding to this thread. Although Im not a big Vail fan, this seems pretty ludicrous to me: Swallowed by Snow: Lawsuit Filed Against Tahoe Ski Resort https://www.powder.com/news/heavenly...ow-lawsuit-ski

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Yeah - that lawsuite stinks of horseshit. :mad:

Article mentioned sink so many times, I did my dishes.

Funny. My reaction was a little different, but it still involved the sink.

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Originally Posted by riser4

Funny. My reaction was a little different, but it still involved the sink.

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I chukkled.

Due to the way the snowpack was, the powder was deceptively loose. Due to the blasting, the top layer of the snowpack appeared solid, with little in the way of visible valleys, multiple small changes in height, or other signs that typically accompany particularly loose snowpack, said the court filing of the mountain's conditions" The lawsuit also notes that despite the increased the risk of powder collapse due to the storm, and the avalanche mitigation performed that morning which increased the risk of a sink in, Heavenly did not schedule additional ski patrollers to keep an eye out for seeming holes or snow moving towards a center of a circle, both key signs of sink in risks," and ultimately could have seen Whelan and prevented his death.



***************Warning, you are entering a mountain environment.*****************

Fuck Vail and sorry this guy died but WTF? I cannot wait for the Plaintiffs Attorney to try and find and expert witness on the subject of Powder Collapse.

Is this a real thing? I mean, presumably the guy died of snow immersion on piste, but I've never heard of powder sink. Have definitely had to swim out of flattish spots a few times, maybe I was just lucky it was Cascades cement not blower pow.

^ Came here to ask this.

Well, there is GoPro footage of what happened, so seems easy to determine exactly what happened. Tree well seems like the most likely scenario.

“Sink-in?” The lawyers just make up their own terminology or what.

“Your honor, everyone in the snow safety world knows the critical importance of sink-in mitigation.”

I move Riser be denied access to the sink.