The Cornice Express chairlift (chair 6) was derailed at Kirkwood ski resort near South Lake Tahoe, CA on Saturday. The cause of the derailment was a huge gust of wind that ripped their ski jump airbag from it’s anchors and sent it hurtling underneath chair 5, missing it completely, and into the the Cornice Express chairlift cable. That impact derailed the chair at 1:35 pm.
No one was hurt. Patrol monkey roped everyone on the chair down safely by 3:15 pm.
This happened on the day of the Freeskiing World Tour competition and delayed the comp one hour as patrollers had to leave the event and rope down the stranded chair riders.
The airbag, used for people to practice aerial tricks safely, hit the cable of the Cornice Express chairlift and took it off of one set of wheels near the bottom of the chairlift.
