MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – While two ski lift incidents happened in New Hampshire within the last week, no such things have been reported in Vermont. However, Vermont officials say they are prepared for them.
A division of the Vermont Department of Labor oversees all passenger tramways, like chairlifts, gondolas and even T-bars. Officials tell us they inspect them annually and oversee all new construction or modification.
Once the cause of a problem at an out-of-state ski area is determined, teams check in to see if Vermont mountains have similar components to ensure there are no issues here.
“Accidents happen but our people in the field are out there in the field to keep them from happening. We take safety very seriously when it comes to the ski industry. We want people to come here ski and have a good time, and not get hurt,” said Dirk Anderson of the Vt. Labor Department.
Experts say issues like what happened at Attitash, where a ski chair detached from the cable, are extremely rare.
Officials say in addition to the annual inspections in Vermont, they do testing on cables and chairs, looking for parts failure.