Poma lift collapse

A snowHead

Just come back from a week away; saw something which I've never even contemplated before and, frankly, made me rather worried - certainly made me think.
Basically (thankfully having just decided to go furtehr up, else I'd have been on the drag lift at the time!), I was sitting on the chairlift, looked over at the Poma drag lift going up below me and, as if in slow motion, saw the top wire falling down and the individual tube things that you put between your legs and hold onto all come crashing down like a row of dominoes. It turns out that somehow the entire thick wire rope had come off the big wheel at the top of the lift and the entire wire/rope and pull system catastropically failed. It was at times quite a steep drag lift but not too long.
Fortunately, as I understand it, there wasn't anyone badly hurt and there were few people on the lift at the time. The main casualty, I believe, was hit in the back by one of the falling poles as they were crossing the drag path on another piste. Could have been so much worse...
Anyone else come across this before or got any ideas what happened? I'm presuming some kind of tensioner failure, but should routine checks/maintenance not pick this kind of thing up?

A snowHead

Where did this happen?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Grizza,
Where was this?

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Was that on a glacier? Surface lifts which are mounted on the ice do occasionally move around, which can cause the cable to derail. Happened to a friend a couple of autumns ago in Tignes - glancing blow from the cable, but could have been worse.

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It was in a small resort in Finland (I won't name at moment in case there's insurance or legal implications, etc) and therefore, no, it wasn't on a glacier, just a low-altitude general hillside slope.

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OK...let's all be honest here...we have all done the "let me see how far out tot the side I can lay a set of ski tracks" on a Poma at some point in our life.

Don't deny it, you know it is true.

Many years ago I was in Schladming with a bunch of friends and Tim decided to really go for it....and he was a big, strong lad.

Suddenly the lift stopped....we all stood/hung there for ages.
A snowmobile came whizzing by, going up the lift track.
A snowmobile came whizzing down with the driver carrying Tim on the back of it.
Word was passed that the lift was utterly Kaput...and we made our way away.

Tim had put so much sideways stress on the overhead wire that it had pinged off its rollers, and the whole lift lost tension and "unravelled"!

That evening...no Tim.
The next morning he reappeared...he had been held by the police in their cells overnight!
They wanted to charge him the equivalent of £10,000 to mend the lift...once it became obvious that the was just a student with no hope of paying they turned him out with a very severe bolloking!

Happy days... Very Happy

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@rungsp, Blimey, lucky Tim Shocked

I guess its perfectly reasonable though. As you say, we've all done it but thankfully they are pretty robust bits of kit so failures are few and far between.

We were once on a drag lift near the top of Risoul where it joins to Vars and the very top was exceedingly rocky. In fact we couldn't see how to get to the very end without completely wrecking your skis. So everyone left the lift about 100m from the top and skied off. Unfortunately this was more or less midway between two pylons and their span and the rate of release of skiers matched the first harmonic of the cable. The oscilations got bigger and biger until the cable bounced of the supporting wheel. Fortunately it landed on the spur to the side of the wheel designed to stop it hitting the ground. The lift didn't operate for the rest of the week.

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Rungsp - I certainly know what you mean, and someone else in the resort did suggest this (though they weren't there at the time) but the rental shop locals didn't think that it was contributory and certainly I don't think that anyone on it at the time was doing this. Also, it was a very narrow 'path' of the drag, and very steep, so I doubt that there would be many culprits for too much weaving: on skis or on a board I was struggling just to cling on, and I'm not a poma virgin by any means.

This one didn't just stop, either: it literally all collapsed to the floor!

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@rungsp,

You know it makes sense.

There are often signs prohibiting slaloming and I know several drags with signs prohibiting dismounting part way, too. One drag in Les Saisies is included on the ski pass for the cross country area. Typically XC skiers dismounted part way up. They shortened the lift a bit a few years ago and the rule was that you had to go to the top, with strict instructions at the bottom to that effect. But that left you on a "black" XC track and an instructor I was with told us not to chat about it at the bottom (ie within earshot of the liftie) but to get off there anyway, as we weren't up to doing the black track.

They have now built a new skiercross piste which makes that very awkward, though not, presumably, solely for that purpose.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

Did see someone release the pole a bit to energetically and end up hooking the button over the cable. Fortunately the liftie spotted it just before it reached the wheel, stopped the lift, bashed it with a stick and shouted something (presumably) impolite in Italian after the departed skier. I could easily see how that might have taken the cable off.

A snowHead

I was going up a T-bar one time and there was a lady on the bar in front of me and suddenly the pole lifted her up in the air (only a foot or two at this point) and she started doing 360s and then touching down again. I thought wow, that's a cool trick! Then a bit further up it suddenly lifted her up about 6 feet in the air and she was clinging on to it for dear life! At that point I realised she wasn't doing this deliberately. But luckily it came down again fairly softly and she was able to bail off safely and I told the lifty at the top what had happened so they could take the offending bar off. I can only think that the spring loaded cable mechanism was jamming up instead of extending to allow for the height of the cable.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I've been told off for exiting a lift early; apparently someone the week previously had pinged the pole away and it got wrapped up and took out the lift for a day or so. I've never slalomed - too afraid of looking like an idiot if I catch an edge!

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@uktrailmonster, That happened to me on a button lift - a deserted one, on a very snowy day. I was less agile than that woman and eventually fell off, and had to clamber up to the piste through deep snow. The liftie, who'd been watching, laughed. It's not that uncommon for light kids to be lifted off their feet by button lifts.

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@pam w, a friend's daughter who although 17 is really slight nearly didn't manage to stay on a drag last year despite about 10 attempts. It's very steep and she just didn't have the weight to extend the pole. Nearly had to call the pisteurs.

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@rungsp, I've definitely been guilty of that, didn't even think about it being detrimental to the lift. I've always found it good practice for weight transfer when I've been learning (plus I enjoy messing about), I'll stop doing it now though Cool

After all it is free

In the resort I learnt to ski in, also in Finland, the nursery slope had a button lift. At two or three different points up the lift line, there were animal characters, and the instructor would say "get off the lift at the owl", so we were discouraged from going to the top for the first day or two. The lifty was well aware of this.

Apart from falling off an 'extreme' drag lift as a beginner in Chatel, the only incident I've been aware of was when a skier failed to exit the t-bar on the glacier in Saas Fee. We were stuck at the bottom with loads of others while a helicopter was called. We weren't sure what had happened until a Russian skier explained to the crowd, in Russian but with very enthusiastic actions, exactly what had occurred. Turns out the dozy skier hadn't been paying attention and had smacked into the pylon or similar at the top rolling eyes

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@miranda, I had a Laurel and Hardy moment involving a chair lift at La Giettaz a couple of seasons ago. Embarassed

@pam w, I do the one foot thing too now, it's a good way to learn that kind of thing without having to worry about where your going or who might be in your way.

The Livigno nursery slopes had animal characters too. Think the first one was a little penguin on a sled, the next one was a little penguin on skis with a big penguin, and the top one was a big penguin. At each exit point there's a level 'landing' to help people get off and presumably lessen the strain on the lift.

You know it makes sense.

I was taught by my instructor as a kid that if you are going to come off early, to stop the risk of the cable coming off, always let go after a pylon, rather than just before one. Makes sense, I guess.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I witnessed an amusing lift failure many years ago. Someone on the poma in front of me was travelling up blissfully unaware of his pending demise.

The button detached from the pole and his carefree attitude changed to one of alarm, as he accelerated backwards past me before doing the splits and ending up in a heap beside the lift. Fortunately it was only his pride that was hurt.

A snowHead

A snowHead

@SnoodyMcFlude, I didn't want to embarass you by mentioning it - but it was the second funniest thing I saw all week. It was kind of the liftie to help you back up too. Laughing

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Tubaski, see, you say that you don't want to embarrass me, and then you lie about the liftie helping me...he was just very concerned and came to check I was alright (once I'd got to my feet all by myself) Laughing

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It seems quite common to have one or more worn springs on Pomas, you hear it extending as you get on and just know it's going to jolt you off the ground. Better if you carry a bit of weight of course Toofy Grin

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Was that you? I had forgotten that! Damn, this could have been the 'day I saw @adithorp break a Poma lift' story - prone to embroidering the truth as I apparently am. Toofy Grin

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...then there's the tale of a snowHead who split his salopettes, repaired them with gaffer tape... and got stuck to a poma!

There's also the tale of the Snowhead who got a standing ovation when he walked into the Schneekarhatte wearing a pair of chaps that had once been salopettes.

Help!!

Poma lift collapse

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