Ski industry officials are stressing their safety record after a chair fell from a lift at Attitash Mountain Resort over the weekend.
One man was hospitalized and later released after his chair on Attitash’s Flying Bear Lift fell 20 feet to the ground on Sunday afternoon. No other injuries were reported.
The New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s office is investigating what caused the accident. State officials noted Monday that the lift involved in the incident at Attitash had last been inspected in November. NHPR has requested a copy of that inspection report, but the state says it could take several days to release that information.
'There's no lifts in the state that can operate unless they've successfully completed and been issued their license to operate for that season.'Mark Petrozzi, a longtime member of the New Hampshire Passenger Tramway Safety Board
The incident has prompted questions about how well safeguards are being followed at Attitash and other New Hampshire ski resorts. Attitash and Vail Resorts, its parent company, have not responded to specific questions from NHPR about whether there had been any similar accidents with Attitash’s lifts in recent seasons or about their lift staffing levels, given an active job posting seeking an “experienced lift mechanic” at Attitash.
Jessyca Keeler, president of the industry group Ski New Hampshire, stressed that the incident at Attitash is an outlier and said “people should feel confident and safe riding our chairlifts.”
“New Hampshire ski areas take skier safety very seriously,” Keeler said in an email to NHPR. “Within the list of elements inspected are structural, electrical, and mechanical components. Ski areas also perform regular maintenance on their lifts, as well as any additional maintenance recommended by lift manufacturers.”
Ski lifts are regulated by the New Hampshire Passenger Tramway Safety Board. Mark Petrozzi, who has been sitting on the board for roughly 20 years, said the tram in question had been inspected before the accident, and it wouldn’t have been running if it had not passed that review.
“There's no lifts in the state that can operate unless they've successfully completed and been issued their license to operate for that season, that winter season,” said Petrozzi, who also works in risk assessment for ski areas. “This lift in fact went through that process, and it was licensed, and it was approved for the passengers, the public.”
A state inspector recently briefed the safety board on potential issues with tramway models in use at Attitash and several other New Hampshire resorts, based on incidents that happened elsewhere, according to meeting minutes posted online. Attitash and Vail Resorts did not respond to questions from NHPR about the steps they took in response to that information. State officials said the lift involved in Sunday’s incident was not one of the models discussed during that meeting.
Petrozzi said what happened this weekend is rare. While he said there were no reports of the tram or ski chair having potential malfunctions prior to the incident, they are working with the manufacturer of the ski tram to figure out what went wrong.
“Bottom line is, no, there was, there was no indicator prior to this that was something that was discovered obviously or could have been discovered to the best of our knowledge,” Petrozzi said.
State rules require passenger trams to be inspected at least once a year, and sometimes more often. The state has two full-time inspectors and one who works part-time, according to Petrozzi.
“One of the requirements is if there is a mechanical failure or malfunction or something like that or even if it's just an evacuation of a lift, even if it's run off on their auxiliary power unit they're required to contact the state inspectors,” Petrozzi said. “Which is exactly what happened in this instance, as well.”
New Hampshire relies in part on criteria developed by the American National Standards Institute, which oversees everything from design and maintenance of passenger ropeways across the country. The state also has its own passenger tramway rules.
Petrozzi said the ski industry takes safety seriously.
“I know the industry wants people to know that safety is and always has been first and foremost from the standpoint of lifts,” Petrozzi said.
