74 replies to this topic

[RibStaThiok]

They are still investigating if it was a carrier failure or not. Very sad.

Quickdraw is a 25 ish year old Poma HSQ. When I rode it a few years ago in the summertime I remember it having strange looking terminals vs the traditional HSQ Poma terminals.

http://www.9news.com...ranch/380239548
http://kdvr.com/2016...-from-ski-lift/
http://www.thedenver...ift-in-colorado
http://denver.cbsloc...t-granby-ranch/

This post has been edited by RibStaThiok: 29 December 2016 - 02:39 PM

[_litz]

Those terminals almost look like engines from an original series star trek ship.

Looking over LiftBlog's pictures of the lift, the chairs have safety bars ... have to question if they were used, were the kids horsing around, etc etc.

I'd think if the carrier actually fell off the line, it would be much more prevalent in the stories ... instead of "chair falls off of lift" we see "3 people fell off of lift" (and last season, we did actually see an incident on another lift where a chair detached and fell, when its grip failed)

At any rate, the Colorado Tramway folks will get to the bottom of things. They're first-rate, for sure.

This post has been edited by _litz: 29 December 2016 - 02:55 PM

[vons]

The lift is a 100% Leitner built before the merger.

[Conrad]

Quick Draw: 1999 Leitner
http://www.skilifts....w/quickdraw.htm

This post has been edited by Conrad: 29 December 2016 - 05:54 PM

[RibStaThiok]

I stand corrected. Not a Poma. Thanks.

[RibStaThiok]

They are estimating they fell about 25 feet. Still no word on if carrier failure or not. One of the daughters has been released from the hospital. I'm wondering if this was a suicide attempt by the mother and wanting to take her daughters with her.. It's a sad possibility in this day and age..

[RibStaThiok]

I've been scanning the news sites, just found these comments: Take them for whatever they are worth.
Witnesses to the accident told CBS4 there had been trouble with the lift for the past few days and the lift even stopped for 10 minutes earlier Thursday morning. Each stop of the lift caused chairs to sway and bounce.
http://denver.cbsloc...t-granby-ranch/

[2milehi]

Let's be patient and not run rampant with second hand information.

[RibStaThiok]

Speculation while it may annoy some can be a healthy thing in discussion. As long as it doesn't get out of control, let's not criticize those who want to share reasonable opinions, unless we want to have a dictatorship type anarchy.

This post has been edited by RibStaThiok: 30 December 2016 - 07:55 AM

[_litz]

Takeaways from that article ...

1) they ran the lift to offload all remaining passengers after the accident; they did NOT rope evacuate.
2) the carrier involved did not detach or fall (they'd never have done 1) if this was the case)
3) the chairs bouncing comments ....

On that ... lots of kids = lots of lift stoppages as the kids get on and off. All lifts will "sway and bounce" a bit when they stop, it's an elastic system, that kinetic energy dissipates up and down the line until the whole system is at equilibrium. Chairs that swing in a stop swing forward, curving upward ... it's almost impossible to fall out of a chair in that situation due to forces involved and the design of the equipment itself.

2-cent speculations, take with a huge grain of salt ....

1) you have to work at it to fall out of a chair on a lift ... or have help (think about the snowboarder at aspen).
2) kids CAN slip out from under safety bars, moms not so much ... makes me wonder if the bar was up or down.
3) regarding 2), if the kids were horsing around or somesuch, could have led to a bad situation.

at any rate, the Tramway board will investigate, and an answer will be found. Colorado doesn't fool around with this stuff.

[RibStaThiok]

Here's some more info.

http://www.denverpos...chairlift-fall/

[SkiDaBird]

I'm shocked in this day and age there isn't a video.
Sad story though, hope for the best.

Also, I'm a pretty big guy and I could get under most safety bars if I actually tried at all.

This post has been edited by SkiDaBird: 30 December 2016 - 09:23 PM

[RibStaThiok]

Here is a great article I think you all will agree with. Thoughts? Kudo's to C.A. Lane at Winter Park!

http://www.thedenver...snowboarder-use

[RibStaThiok]

Aaaaaaaaaand now we have some more details coming in...

From the article:
it's not clear what led to the fall, but a witness says the chair the family was on did not have its safety bar down when it began to swing side to side.
Allen McGirl said the swaying caused the chair to hit a pole, ejecting the three down at least 25 feet to the ground.

http://www.thedenver...-fall-in-granby

[_litz]

Unless there was wind involved chairs don't suddenly start swinging around ...

Sadly (and yes, this is speculation), pieces of this event are starting to become more clear .... likely this is looking more and more like the proper safety device (the safety bar) was not in use, the kids were horsing around, causing the chair to swing, and it contacted a tower, ejecting them from the chair.

[NHskier13]

As much as people here disagree with safety bars actually saving people, I disagree personally ; I feel like there's something to hit before you just slip (granted, still possible with small children) and it's also a hell of a lot harder to fall off if your feet are on the footrests too (forget if this in question has them). So it makes sense for it not to be down.

[RibStaThiok]

Results of the autopsy:

http://www.thedenver...-fall-in-granby
The Grand County Medical Examiner determined that Kelly Huber, 40, died from a traumatic rupture of the aorta and blunt force trauma to the torso.

Still no other info yet on cause.

[DonaldMReif]

NHskier13, on 31 December 2016 - 04:43 PM, said:

As much as people here disagree with safety bars actually saving people, I disagree personally ; I feel like there's something to hit before you just slip (granted, still possible with small children) and it's also a hell of a lot harder to fall off if your feet are on the footrests too (forget if this in question has them). So it makes sense for it not to be down.

Quickdraw has footrests. There aren't too many detachables in Colorado that don't have footrests (the only ones I can think of that don't off the top of my head are Coney Glade at Snowmass, the Zephyr Express, Gemini Express, Eskimo Express and Prospector Express at Winter Park, and the Christie Peak Express at Steamboat).

[_litz]

RibStaThiok, on 31 December 2016 - 06:56 PM, said:

Results of the autopsy:

http://www.thedenver...-fall-in-granby
The Grand County Medical Examiner determined that Kelly Huber, 40, died from a traumatic rupture of the aorta and blunt force trauma to the torso.

Still no other info yet on cause.

Oh dear, that's horrible ... you have to wonder if one of the kids landed on top of her ... just horrible.

[2milehi]

RibStaThiok, on 30 December 2016 - 07:50 AM, said:

Speculation while it may annoy some can be a healthy thing in discussion. As long as it doesn't get out of control, let's not criticize those who want to share reasonable opinions, unless we want to have a dictatorship type anarchy.

I disagree with your opinion. If the facts develop slowly and say an antsy and low standards news reporter finds this site and takes the speculation seriously, before you know it your guesses are taken as fact. Then the 5 o'clock news is reporting that the mom committed suicide and quotes this site.

There is a reason why lawyers object to speculation - it can distort the truth. For the sake of the mother that passed and her injured children let the puzzle pieces fall in place. We will probably find out the reason why this happened in the next couple of day.

I am fine with taking the new information provided and come up with a logical conclusion. I dislike your thought of the mom committing suicide.