One day I would like to not write of ski lift safety. I know at some point chairs will safely account for all body types large and small transported up the hill. In fact as each new season approaches I would rather not write about ski lifts given the memories of 2010 when our daughter fought for her life after slipping 32 feet off of a chairlift. (See About Us) However, each season the media reports on those that HAVE fallen off of the lift, and these news reports remind us that ski lift education from resorts, parents and friends is necessary.

In the 2012-2013 ski season I found six instances of media reports about falls from ski lifts. These reports do not account for the many that go unreported.  These ski lift falls included that of a teen in December 2012 in Pennsylvania. Ski lift falls in January 2013 included that of two brothers ages four and seven in New Hampshire, a seven-year-old in New York, and a nine-year-old in Utah. Media reports in February of 2013 told of the ski lift fall of a teen in New Mexico and the fatal ski lift fall of a schoolgirl in Italy.

In what I hope will be the only reported instance of a ski lift fall this year, the 2013-2014 ski season began with the report of a mother and six-year-old daughter falling from a lift in New Hampshire.

How do you safely sit on a chairlift?

Back to Back

Hold On

Sit Still

Use the Restraint Bar if Provided

Riding? Perhaps that makes it sound a bit too carefree- the utilization of the ski lift as a means to get up the hill. As the 2013-2014 ski season is underway a gentle reminder on how to properly sit on the chairlift. A reminder we feel compelled to post having had a child slip 32 feet off of a chair. We hope it assists in the keeping safe of children (and adults) at resorts each season.

Back to Back

Hold On

Sit Still

[And Use the Restraint Bar If Available)