People who sue ski areas should be shot.

[toast2266]

I have never seen a riblet with a safety bar. Seems really awkward to make that happen.

Also, isnt it usually the insurance company that forces people to sue ski areas? Either because the insurance doesnt want to foot the bill for ongoing medical care, or because the person's long term medical bills are exorbitant and insurance wont cover much of the cost?

Whitewater has a riblet with safety bars. Basically just 2 little metal rods that individually fold down off the center pole. Safer than nothing, but doesn't feel as secure as a normal safety bar.

[CarlMega]

In my resort skiing days, I'm not sure a day passed where I didn't ride an old double without a bar. A few of those ascended pretty darn high with tons of wind exposure; a few times I regretted my decision to get on in the conditions. The wrong kind of thrills.

Regarding the lawsuit:

Just being an old double without a bar isn't negligent
A sign that would deter a one legged codger would be sensible
Routinely running the lift in reckless conditions I think would open the resort to liability

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I’m not seeing how having one leg contributed to the guy falling off the chair. We have a very windy mountain and I’ve been on the Riblets in very high winds, sustained forty with gusts to sixty mph. Sling your arm over the back of the chair or around the center pole and you’re good to go. They don’t usually stop spinning until the chairs start hitting the towers.

I’m not saying that I wouldn’t use a safety bar if it was available, I do on our high speed quad and use the bubble, but it’s not that big a deal to ride without if there isn’t a safety restraint.


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[old goat]

i havent been back in about 10 years, but Alpine chair at Alpine meadows never had a bar. Maybe it does now? Ive been on that a few times is some seriously windy conditions when they had summit chair shut down for windhold. I bet there are a number of other chairs at those places where you just never noticed there was no bar to put down... its not something that you really think about unless you are in the habit of putting a bar down EVERY lift ride.

ABC has a bar

people who fly drones into super scoopers should be shot. and their remains nuked from orbit.

I can live with that, as long as they nuke the remains somewhere other than LA. Nevada works.

[raisingarizona13]

I can live with that, as long as they nuke the remains somewhere other than LA. Nevada works.

Lets not Cali-fuck Nevada now please. It's the last best place in the lower 48 FFS.

[MakersTeleMark]

Anyone who falls off a chair with the safety bar up should have to pay the resort's legal bill.

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

???

[CarlMega]

I’m not seeing how having one leg contributed to the guy falling off the chair.

I'll admit, I don't know either.. But it is sort of a funny part of the story. I will say that I encourage a mag to cut off a leg and see if it affects their sitting balance. Maybe on a treadmill. Test the theory.

[Danno]

I'll admit, I don't know either.. But it is sort of a funny part of the story. I will say that I encourage a mag to cut off a leg and see if it affects their sitting balance. Maybe on a treadmill. Test the theory.

well, we know he is an amputee but no reporting of whether he has a prosthetic or not. A good buddy of mine is a below the knee amputee and you would never know it unless he's wearing shorts. He rips on skis.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Almost every time I go skiing, I am confronted by the fact that people have a hard time sitting down and standing up again. Like, are they just dumb?

[Ted Striker]

And this? "It might seem hard to believe, but there are still a handful of chairlifts in The United States that do not have a safety or restraint bar." Most resorts I can think of have at least one lift that has no safety bar, so it's not hard to believe.

I'd file that in the "go skiing in a storm? That's crazy!" file.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Ps, my local hill has some old ass lifts including a couple riblets.
But the mom and pop areas within a couple hours of Missoula also have all fixed grip lifts of varying sizes, including triples and quads and people STILL have trouble with loading and unloading.
Again, are people just dumb?

[stuckathuntermtn]

Also, towers have guides. The chair stops swinging side to side around the tower. What a loser.

[dan_pdx]

Routinely running the lift in reckless conditions I think would open the resort to liability

IANAL, but I agree with this take. Were yeah the conditions at the time he fell so bad that it was negligent to load the chair?

[jackstraw]

I don't have a fear of heights, but I put the bar down every time. The story years ago about the lift spinning backwards all of sudden will never leave my mind. I know or "hear" that it cannot happen with modern lifts, but shit happens. And if I'm sharing the ride with some kooks I don't trust them to not fall off and grab my skis on their way down. Which makes me smile as my buddy Johnny 'had' to jump off the Couch right at the base (I forget why, but probably dropped a glove as he was getting a joint) and he briefly grabbed my skis for a millisecond and let go [emoji33]. We laughed our asses off afterwards.

And the town lift at Park City didn't have a bar and that thing is up pretty damn high. My kids were fairly little and on the chair behind me. That's when it crossed my mind also.

In this bubble wrap society I'm shocked we can have a chair without a bar these days.

But yeah, people suing ski areas should be shot...unless it's Vail or Alterra. [emoji23]

[dan_pdx]

I was on a Riblet decades ago and leaning forward to look at a skier below when it stopped short and I had a serious oh shit moment. Since then, if I'm on a chair with no safety bar I pretty much always have a hand around the center pole or the back, regardless of conditions.

[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.

[californiagrown]

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.

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

[brutah]

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

It's the american way!

[TBS]

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.

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

[TBS]

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

???

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?

[BaseFloopy]

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

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

[TBS]

That idea ended with The Pig War of 1859

[muted reborn]

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.

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.

[jackstraw]

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.

[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.

[neufox47]

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.

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.