#chairlift-accident

#chairlift-accident

The elevator fell multiple floors with someone inside and abruptly stopped when the emergency brakes were activated. While the brakes fortunately kept the elevator from crashing into the bottom of the elevator shaft, the sudden stop caused the person to sustain moderate to severe injuries.

California's ski season was largely dry and warm, with only 18% of average snowpack by April 1, marking the second-lowest on record. Despite some quality skiing opportunities around Christmas and early January, the overall season remained disappointing.

The state fined Mammoth Mountain Ski Area LLC $26,810 for three violations related to the death, according to a July 2025 citation that is being reported here for the first time. The violations included not ensuring the patrollers were able to deploy avalanche airbags prior to the 25-year-old's death.

"He was so charming and very sexy. It was the same type of charisma you see in movie stars." - Longtime friend Dede Brinkman, Sacramento Bee

Breakdowns can happen, but the response was as quick as possible. City councilor Paolo Gabrielli praised the rapid intervention of technicians who activated the emergency recovery system, ensuring the safety of the passengers.

The skier, who has not been identified, was attempting a run called Dropout 2 - among the steepest marked trails in California - which descends from the summit ridge of the 11,000-foot mountain. The run falls about 1,200 vertical feet below a slow, three-person lift that ferries expert skiers to some of Mammoth's most adventurous terrain.

Runaway snowboards were a cause of great concern in the early days of snowboarding as snowboards don't have breaks like skis. This concern was justified in many ways as proto snowboard bindings much less secure and reliable than modern systems using simple straps, rubber components, or basic buckles that could loosen or fail more easily during a crash.

Nearly 60 people were rescued after a chairlift broke down at a ski area in Lyme, N.H. on Thursday. The rescue took place on the Winslow Mountain Quad at Dartmouth Skiway, where first responders evacuated 59 people over a period of 90 minutes, according to a statement by Aaron Rich, Lyme Fire Chief. The rescue happened before dark and one person was transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) for treatment after the rescued skiers were checked for cold-weather injuries, according to Rich.

A skier was killed in an avalanche in the Boss Basin area near Vail Pass in Colorado's backcountry, marking the first avalanche fatality of the 2025-26 winter season in the state. According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC), the skier was reported missing on Saturday evening, March 7.

Vail Ski Patrol and the entire Vail Resorts family extend our deepest sympathy and support to our guest's family and friends.

On Monday, February 23, Pierre Denambride, the 51-year-old head of slope safety at Flaine in Haute-Savoie, France, was killed while working on the mountain. One day later, on Tuesday night, a 41-year-old resort worker died in a separate quad accident in Flims, Switzerland, part of the Flims Laax ski area. The back-to-back tragedies have drawn attention to the use of quad bikes-often fitted with tracks or crawler systems-by ski patrol, slope safety teams, and mountain operations staff across Europe and North America.

The terrain park operates on different rules and guidelines than the rest of the ski resort. While the downhill skier always has the right of way on the rest of the mountain, skiers and snowboarders are responsible for clearing out of any landing zone as soon as they can. Hanging out in the landing zone or allowing your child to hang out in the landing zone, as we see in the video below, is absolutely unacceptable,

Genuinely feel bad for everyone involved in this multi person t-bar crash at Kreischberg Ski Resort in Austria. Of course no one wants to get decked by a snowboarder sliding out of control down a steep icy slope but its not hard to sympathize with the snowboarder who had little to no chance of self-arresting after losing his footing given the terrain and the fact that he had one boot unstrapped.

Silverton Medical Rescue shared this story as a PSA, clarifying that in a normal winter such debris would be covered with snow. They encourage recreators to be aware of debris, posts, wires, and other trash that's far more exposed this year than others. "Be safe and keep a keen eye out for things other than rocks and trunks. Danger looks different every year, and low avalanche risk does not equal low risk overall."

No other injuries were reported, and B.C. Emergency Health Services confirmed that no patients were transported to hospital. "All available evidence points to this being a tragic accident," WVPD spokesperson Suzanne Birch said in a written statement. "There are no obvious indications of technical or mechanical issues with the chairlift. As the death appears to be non-suspicious, the investigation is now with the Coroner's Office."