A tragic chairlift accident this winter in Colorado was the result of a mechanical malfunction says a recent report submitted by the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board.
The 151 page document delves into causes behind the January, chairlift fatality that occurred at Ski Granby near Winter Park, CO. In the document, the safety board concludes that the death of 40 year old Kelly Huber was caused by a “series of human and mechanical amplified the malfunction.”
“Although many factors may have combined to amplify the effect of the rope instability leading to Carrier 58 colliding with Tower 5, as outlined above, the performance of the new drive is considered to be the primary cause of the incident.” –Â Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board
Other contributing factors included new modifications made to the lift’s “electrical control system” as well as 6 other various factors. One of those includes an inexplicable “low energy pulse” that has been traveling through the lift system at intervals of 3.7 seconds for the past 18 years.
The report also indicated that there was no action by the riders that would have caused the accident and that the event was a sort of domino effect of malfunctions the kind of which, “was unprecedented.” In their conclusion, the research team suggests the report be further reviewed in an academic setting.
Find the entire report here:Â December 2016 Quick Draw Express Lift (SC-008) Incident