Belleayre Conditions

[Ripitz]

The thing I like most about that lift is spring bumps below the headwall.

 

[Country Gun]

I think I was there with you that day

 

[snoloco]

This was shared anonymously to Facebook. Shows it off 3 towers and several mangled chairs. I can't tell if there is any damage to the towers themselves.

 

[raisingarizona]

This kind of incident has been a growing concern of mine over the last 15 years. I had worked in forestry, been out west long enough to have observed the decline in forest health and I’ve literally watched many unhealthy trees drop during wind events so I’ve put some thought in how to mitigate these hazards. IMHO I don’t think ski areas are doing enough. At least this accident at bell didn’t happen during operating hours. Imagine if those chairs were full of your clientele.

If I were an owner or mountain manager I’d want to have the budget to remove hazard trees and widen lifelines enough to increase safety.

 

[Ripitz]

If I were an owner or mountain manager I’d want to have the budget to remove hazard trees and widen lifelines enough to increase safety.

We’re talking ORDA so a budget is not something that really ever stops them.

I think there could be “Forever Wild” limitations on tree cutting. They only have a certain mileage and width and I believe they’re at the max.

If a tree is a hazard though, it needs to be at least tipped back or topped if necessary.

 

[raisingarizona]

Those antiquated guidelines are ridiculous. Gubment…..

 

[tirolski]

This was shared anonymously to Facebook. Shows it off 3 towers and several mangled chairs. I can't tell if there is any damage to the towers themselves.

View attachment 27795

If ya zoom the pic ya can see the log that hit the rope.
In Lift Blog database for that lift the 6th pic shows a big tree with a sketchy top.
Don’t know if that’s the one that came down but it looks dead at the top from the pic.
I don’t know when he took the lift pics.

 

[dubstar]

I'd like to know if the cables / chairs dropped suddenly or in slow motion.

 

[raisingarizona]

If ya zoom the pic ya can see the log that hit the rope.
In Lift Blog database for that lift the 6th pic shows a big tree with a sketchy top.
Don’t know if that’s the one that came down but it looks dead at the top from the pic.
I don’t know when he took the lift pics.

Another similar recent incident killed a Park City ski patroller when he was riding the lift before operating hours when a tree fell on to the line. That was two years ago? I’m not sure.

At the AZ Snowbowl there have been a lot of thinned areas for tree skiing which forestry experts would claim is good for the forests health. Thinning has been the go to prescription for unhealthy, fire prone forests for over twenty years now. The downside is that the trees left standing are now more affected by winds being they don’t have the root structure to keep them from falling and after thinning there’s no barrier left. It seems trees grow to deal with the situational conditions and in really overgrown areas they are more protected from winds and focus growth upwards to fight for light.

Snowbowl has at least one if not more than one tree fall on to the line, luckily it didn’t knock the cables off the wheels and they weren’t during operating hours but these risks aren’t going away anytime soon.

 

[tirolski]

It seems trees grow to deal with the situational conditions and in really overgrown areas they are more protected from winds and focus growth upwards to fight for light.