Mysterious Accident Luckily Happened In Mid-Summer.
Credit: WCSH
The top terminal of a triple-chair lift at Sunday River, ME, has pulled out of the ground, collapsing the lift. The foundation failure was discovered by a maintenance worker during a routine evening inspection on July 10.
The detachment caused the top terminal to be pulled downhill which released tension on the cable, causing the cable and chairs to be lowered to the ground, according to a statement by Sunday River. There were no injuries.
Officials are puzzled as to what caused the collapse of the Spruce Peak lift which was installed in 1986. Sunday River management is awaiting the results of an investigation to decide whether to replace the lift.
For the WCSH news story, click here.
Most places I ski store their chairs in the off season. For those of us in the West, who my not be familiar with Spruce Peak, could you give us an idea about it’s size and popularity…some context to better understand what looks like an unwelcome engineering failure.
Actually, it is Sunday River’s Spruce Peak chair. It’s a triple and goes from mid-mountain to Spruce Peak, one of five or six summits at Sunday River. The resort itself is one of Maine’s largest and most popular with 135 runs, 15 lifts, 5 terrain parks and 2340 total vertical ft. The summit elevation is 3140 ft. Yes, the chairs were on the cable most likely because of summer events. The lift is 30 years old and passed inspection last fall. And yes, a disturbing failure. There are more current updates available if you google Sunday River Ski Lift Collapse.
With arctic cold Maine winters, we assume the top station was always frozen in place during ski seasons, and then when the frost in the ground finally melted in early July, it all took on the look of an ice cream cone on a hot summer day… 🙂