Beech Mountain Water Pipe Burst, Skier Trapped in Lift

[Petronio]

this is a new kind of horror

 

[D.B. Cooper]

I cannot believe they ran the lift, sending people through that geyser. Somebody's head needs to be put in a guillotine for that.

 

[Harvey]

I didn't read the story. They continued to load people after the line blew?

I was blown away by the people who were laughing at the situation. That's terrifying. What was the temperature?

 

[snoloco]

I cannot believe they ran the lift, sending people through that geyser. Somebody's head needs to be put in a guillotine for that.

This happened towards the middle of the lift, so it's possible that it wasn't easy to see exactly where it was from the top or bottom. The reason the lift stopped with the chair stuck in the spray is because the raging torrent of water actually broke the derail switch on that tower, which prevents the lift from starting.

 

[tirolski]

I didn't read the story. They continued to load people after the line blew?

I was blown away by the people who were laughing at the situation. That's terrifying. What was the temperature?

There’s more stuff in the “Ugh" thread if ya hadn’t seen that yet.

 

[MarzNC]

I didn't read the story. They continued to load people after the line blew?

I was blown away by the people who were laughing at the situation. That's terrifying. What was the temperature?

Pretty sure that was when temps were in the 40s, before the recent cold snap started.

As I've noted before, there are plenty of folks on NC slopes who are self-described "rednecks who like to drink beer and ski." The order of the hobbies is significant.

 

[MarzNC]

Here's the most sensible post I've seen about Beech and the broken water main. This is from a DCSki member who doesn't ski in NC but has experience with snowmaking in the mid-Atlantic.

"A broken main has to drain out. I don't know how Beech is set up, but I've worked snowmaking systems with buried pipe that just didn't have a fast way to drain, and others where the drain wasn't easy to get to quickly (IE dirt road to a remote pump station). Getting the pumps shut off in a couple minutes and the system drained in 20 minutes - most of the water coming out was likely from head pressure, not pumped - is about normal for a panic stop. As for the lift, what I hear is the water tripped brittle bars/sensors on the tower. That stops the lift and has to be bypassed by a mechanic going into the panel. That explains one of the two stops. What I don't exactly understand is why the lift stopped, started, and stopped again.

Stowe had a similar but potentially worse failure that happened to be visible from the base of their gondola a few years ago, but it happened to hit empty cabins."

 

[tirolski]

Pretty sure that was when temps were in the 40s, before the recent cold snap started.

As I've noted before, there are plenty of folks on NC slopes who are self-described "rednecks who like to drink beer and ski." The order of the hobbies is significant.

Nope Marz. It was single digits. Somebody froze to the lift. Folks were treated for hypothermia.
If ya watch the movies the geyser was still making some snow.

 

[MarzNC]

Nope Marz. It was in the teens. Somebody froze to the lift. Folks were treated for hypothermia.
If ya watch the movies the geyser was still making some snow.

Ah well, I didn't look at the date of the video.

 

[Harvey]

You can get hypothermia at 55 degrees I think.