64 replies to this topic

[Peter]

King Pine lift reportedly rolled back approximately 100 yards/9 chair lengths
1988 Borvig quad with about 230 riders
7 injured
Rope evacuation

http://abcnews.go.co...ory?id=29808377

Edit: video of lift going backwards with people jumping: https://youtu.be/Jys_iGDpfw8

[Peter]

Quote

Evacuation of King Pine lift complete
March 21, 2015

UPDATE 1:48p.m. - At this time, all guests have been successfully evacuated from the King Pine lift at Sugarloaf following an incident earlier this morning. Roughly 230 guests were evacuated from the lift by Sugarloaf's Ski Patrol.

The lift experienced a rollback at roughly 11:30am resulting in injuries to 7 guests, not 4 as previously reported. Three guests have been transported to local hospitals by ambulance with injuries that are not believed to be life threatening. No guests were injured during the lift evacuation process.

A rollback refers to an incident in which the chairlift travels backwards. The rollback did not cause the lift to de-rope. The lift rolled back a distance of 9 chairs.

The King Pine Quad is a 4 passenger monocable fixed grip quad built in 1988 and manufactured by Borvig. It is located on the eastern side of the mountain. King Pine is 3,400 feet long with a vertical of 1,074 feet. The chair moves at a speed of 450 feet per minute and the chairs are roughly 51 feet apart. There are a total of 122 chairs on the lift, which is powered by a 400 horsepower motor. It has a transportation capacity of 2,100 skiers per hour.

The chairlift receives routine daily inspections for safety. Additionally, the chairlift receives weekly, monthly and yearly maintenance and testing. The lift is also inspected annually by the State of Board of Elevator and Tramway Safety.

The King Pine lift will remain closed at this time. The cause of the rollback remains under investigation.

We will update with additional information as it becomes available.

sugarloaf.com/media-room/press-releases/lift-update

[Peter]

Pics of mangled chairs and riders who went around the bullwheel and back up

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[DonaldMReif]

Boy, that looked scary. Thank goodness no one was seriously or it didn't turn into an Eskimo lift style rollback.

[DonaldMReif]

I imagine King Pine's probably going to be closed for a while and might be up for replacement.

[NHskier13]

Anyone have a rough estimate on how fast the lift was moving in reverse?
By the way, how come the chairs are bent out of shape like that? Looks like they might need some replacements.
This is really terrible for Sugarloaf. Another accident happened a few years ago on a borvig lift too.
Some people were jumping off that lift I heard, before they went back around the bottom.

[NHskier13]

http://www.wcvb.com/...derway/31940884

[Peter]

Another video - chair hits tower: https://www.youtube....h?v=H9zLojBpQ_I

This could have been so much worse.

[liftmech]

DonaldMReif, on 21 March 2015 - 12:46 PM, said:

I imagine King Pine's probably going to be closed for a while and might be up for replacement.

Lifts can have an incident and not go away. Teller became Ruby and lived much longer. Closed for a while, obviously. We know nothing else. As I and others have said repeatedly, let's don't speculate please. Thanks.

[snoloco]

Are Borvig lifts known to be unreliable and dangerous like Yan lifts once were? There have been many that got pulled out and scrapped rather than being relocated. For example, Vernon Valley Great Gorge had a bunch, but when Intrawest took over and turned VVGG into Mountain Creek, they tore out all but two and sent them to the scrap heap. They were replaced with a Partek FGQ, a Doppelmayr FGQ, 2 Doppelmayr HSQ's, and a Doppelmayr Cabriolet gondola. Borvig was no longer around at that time, but they didn't seem to keen on using their successor for much of anything (only the bunny slope lift).

Sugarloaf sent Spillway to the scrap heap as well when it was taken out.

[machskier]

snoloco, on 21 March 2015 - 05:34 PM, said:

Are Borvig lifts known to be unreliable and dangerous like Yan lifts once were? There have been many that got pulled out and scrapped rather than being relocated. For example, Vernon Valley Great Gorge had a bunch, but when Intrawest took over and turned VVGG into Mountain Creek, they tore out all but two and sent them to the scrap heap. They were replaced with a Partek FGQ, a Doppelmayr FGQ, 2 Doppelmayr HSQ's, and a Doppelmayr Cabriolet gondola. Borvig was no longer around at that time, but they didn't seem to keen on using their successor for much of anything (only the bunny slope lift).

Sugarloaf sent Spillway to the scrap heap as well when it was taken out.

I don't believe what happened at Mountain Creek with a new owner opting to change out/upgrade lifts has anything to do with Borvig lifts at any other mountain. Spillway was a mucholder design and was headed there anyway whether its incident had happened or not. I can't say with 100% certainty, but I don't think any of the old double doubles have ever been reinstalled as used lifts (which spillway was).

[barnstormer]

snoloco, on 21 March 2015 - 05:34 PM, said:

Are Borvig lifts known to be unreliable and dangerous like Yan lifts once were? There have been many that got pulled out and scrapped rather than being relocated. For example, Vernon Valley Great Gorge had a bunch, but when Intrawest took over and turned VVGG into Mountain Creek, they tore out all but two and sent them to the scrap heap. They were replaced with a Partek FGQ, a Doppelmayr FGQ, 2 Doppelmayr HSQ's, and a Doppelmayr Cabriolet gondola. Borvig was no longer around at that time, but they didn't seem to keen on using their successor for much of anything (only the bunny slope lift).

Sugarloaf sent Spillway to the scrap heap as well when it was taken out.

Borvigs are actually known to be very reliable. They were using a bullwheel drop dog as well as an automatic rollback detection system for the bullwheel brake before they were required by B77, and before other manufacturers were. We probably won't know what happened here for sometime to come.

There are tens, if not hundreds, of Borvigs that have been relocated and are running as safely and reliably as their maintenance allows.

[JHappel]

snoloco, on 21 March 2015 - 05:34 PM, said:

Are Borvig lifts known to be unreliable and dangerous like Yan lifts once were? There have been many that got pulled out and scrapped rather than being relocated. For example, Vernon Valley Great Gorge had a bunch, but when Intrawest took over and turned VVGG into Mountain Creek, they tore out all but two and sent them to the scrap heap. They were replaced with a Partek FGQ, a Doppelmayr FGQ, 2 Doppelmayr HSQ's, and a Doppelmayr Cabriolet gondola. Borvig was no longer around at that time, but they didn't seem to keen on using their successor for much of anything (only the bunny slope lift).

Sugarloaf sent Spillway to the scrap heap as well when it was taken out.

Correct me if I'm wrong but for all intents and purposes Partek and Borvig are one in the same.

[vons]

JHappel, on 22 March 2015 - 04:44 AM, said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but for all intents and purposes Partek and Borvig are one in the same.

You are correct

[skierdude9450]

For a rollback to occur, there have to be multiple faults occurring at the same time. The drive would presumably need to be disconnected, and the bullwheel brakes would have to either be non-functioning, or not providing sufficient braking force. With 203 passengers evacuated, it's clear that the line was almost 100% loaded. So I guess what I'm wondering is, if the bullwheel brakes are not pumped to the proper pressure, and an emergency stop was initiated, causing them do be deployed, could that possibly start a rollback? (I realize that's hypothetical, I'm not even sure if a lift can run without the bullwheel brakes being at the proper pressure.)

[Keymech]

From what I see it looks like the E-brake did stop the lift.

[vons]

Its been mentioned that Borvig used a drop dog roll back device anyone know what kind of system was used to deploy it? I am only familiar with the Yan mousetrap setup.

[Peter]

Preliminary findings indicate 2 mechanical systems failed. Operator hit the emergency shutdown to stop the lift. http://sugarloaf.com...s/lift-rollback

[woofydoggie]

This could have been a real world Eskimo......... but people instead of sand.

[RibStaThiok]

actually the Eskimo Riblet destruction testing used concrete blocks.. but still. Based upon what I could see on the videos, I'd guess they were rolling back at most.. maybe 200-300 FPM?