Skier in Distress - Let's Help Him Out

[Tidybuoy]

I only wish this could have happened to me. Let's help this poor guy out by broadcasting his photo all over the internet - this will only help him with his multi-million dollar settelment......poor guy

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0106091vail5.html

Man left dangling upside down, pantsless after Vail lift mishap

JANUARY 6--In a bizarre incident that will surely lead to litigation (or an out-of-court settlement), a skier at Colorado's ritzy Vail resort was left dangling upside down and pantsless from a chairlift last Thursday morning. The January 1 mishap apparently occurred after the male skier, 48, and a child boarded a high-speed lift in Vail's Blue Sky Basin. It appears that the chairlift's fold-down seat was somehow not in the lowered position, which caused the man to partially fall through the resulting gap. His right ski got jammed in the ascending chairlift, and that kept him upended since his boot never dislodged from its binding. As seen in the photos on the following pages (which were snapped by fellow skiers), the Skyline Express lift was stopped shortly after the pair's botched boarding resulted in the man dangling from the lift. The exposed skier was stuck for about 15 minutes before Vail personnel backed the lift up and successfully dislodged the unidentified man from the four-seat chair. The images on page four and five were taken by Marty Odom (who can be reached at martyodm@gmail.com if you're interested in licensing the photos). In a statement released this afternoon, Vail Resorts, which operates the ski area, reported that the skier was not injured after being "suspended for approximately seven minutes." The press release did not explain how the mishap occurred, only that "the man was caught on the chair." (5 pages)

[Jim Richards]

It's fashionable to ski pantless at Vail?

[G60SuperCharger]

*shrinkage*

Multi-million $ settlement? A lifetime pass to Vail would be good enough for me.

[Tim Hancock]

Settlement? For what, him being a dumb@ss and not looking over his shoulder as he sat down? The fact that anyone would even mention a lawsuit, is exactly what is wrong with this country. The only thing he deserves is some ribbing from all who got to see this incident.

[billybek]

Full moon over Vail, how romantic....

[legion]

My friend Griffin had an in-ground pool (a rarity in Illinois).

When we were in high school, we'd all crowd his house during the summer. One night, his mom was out of town and all of the neighborhood crew had turned out. We'd lost track of the time. We'd been swimming for house. It could be 9:00 p.m. or 1:00 a.m. We had no idea. And we were wet and all of us had neglected to bring towels, so going inside the house to check was not an option.

One girl, Randi, said: "I can tell the time by the moon."

My friend Matt, who was out of the pool at the time, promptly dropped his shorts and aimed his posterior at Randi, saying: "Hey Randi, what time is it?"

[the]

cmon binding, unclick! unclick! unclick!

Whoa!

Don't unclick! Don't unclick! Don't unclick!

[RWebb]

This is what happens when you don't "earn your turns."

[Jim Sims]

Running a US ski area is a tough business given about a 1/3 of one's clientele aren't fit to ski for various reasons.

[gtc]

Originally Posted by G60SuperCharger

*shrinkage*

Multi-million $ settlement? A lifetime pass to Vail would be good enough for me.

Funny, shrinkage was the first thing I thought of too.

If it were me, I'd want a lifetime pass to some OTHER resort.
"Hey, aren't you the guy that got pantsed by the chairlift?"

[PeteT]

My only question is how in the heck did he lose his pants?

[911Rob]

Ho, ho! That is too funny. Poor guy will never live that one down.
Some gays have all the luck.

[ruf-porsche]

That teach him for trying to take a dump on the chair lift.

[450knotOffice]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Settlement? For what, him being a dumb@ss and not looking over his shoulder as he sat down? The fact that anyone would even mention a lawsuit, is exactly what is wrong with this country. The only thing he deserves is some ribbing from all who got to see this incident.

For the most part, I agree, Tim. However, you and I were not there, so it's a bit presumptuous to assume that he could've even gotten out of the way of the chair fast enough to avoid being gathered up in it and swept on his way up the hill. He had his kid with him and we all know how that can be a distraction from what he should have normally been doing, which is look back at the chair, watch it come at you, and then sit in it. He may have been late sliding into the loading slot due to a slow kid or some other problem and therefore may not have had a real long opportunity to take a look back at the chair. If he saw it just a moment before it swept him up, then he would have had no way to slide out of the way fast enough to avoid being scooped up by it. As an example of chair loading mishaps that can happen, my wife is a lifetime skier, but she slipped and fell once in the loading zone (not sure why), and she ended up getting clobbered in the head by the bottom of the chair while I was yelling for them to stop the chair, which they were late in doing. It was enough to draw some blood from her head and end her day.

With that said, I see no need for a lawsuit. It's just a very unfortunate, very embarrassing incident. Maybe they can offer him a season pass or some voucher of real value (since they did leave the seat up after all).

[Aurel]

Originally Posted by 450knotOffice

With that said, I see no need for a lawsuit. It's just a very unfortunate, very embarrassing incident. Maybe they can offer him a season pass or some voucher of real value (since they did leave the seat up after all).

All he needs is a good pair of suspenders .

[speeder]

jesus, i hate it when that happens.



As someone else mentioned, pretty embarrassing. His prick probably said, "I'm going inside where it's warm."

[Tidybuoy]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Settlement? For what, him being a dumb@ss and not looking over his shoulder as he sat down? The fact that anyone would even mention a lawsuit, is exactly what is wrong with this country. The only thing he deserves is some ribbing from all who got to see this incident.

hey, hey, hey....don't get your panties bunched up. The situation here: it was snowing and so the chair lift attendants typically lift up the bench seat for the trip down the mountain so that snow does not pile up on the seat. The attendant at the bottom of the lift is "supposed" to put the seat back down for the riders.

In this case, the man had a small child with him and so he would be helping to lift the kid onto the seat (assuming the seat is actually there).

I ski a lot and I can totally empathize with this guy, the seat was supposed to be there. It's like going to the bathroom in the middle of the night and sitting down - only to find that the seat is up - and you know what happens. I will admit, I usually look before I sit - but I've never done it with a small child.

This situation is actually hillarious - but I bet he gets something from the Vail Corporation to calm him down. Hanging upside down, naked, in front of a large crowd, and having your photos posted on the internet all over the world has got to be a little embarrassing.

[TerryH]

Confucius say, "Man who fall from chairlift, have crack up."

[Jim Sims]

I've loaded with a small child (who had to be lifted into the seat on the other side) many times on a center pole, double chair with the loading area right at the bull wheel without problems. I've also had wind gusts blow the seats up at the last minute before loading. The guy is either inept or unlucky. Ski lifts can't always stop on a "dime" as there is a lot of momentum involved; one better be paying attention when one loads and unloads.

[9dreizig]

Hey guys, I think that was Gogar...