Maureen McDevitt didn’t hestitate when she considered her two 20-something daughters skiing in the wake of a chairlift malfunction at Sugarloaf that injured seven people.
“I don’t worry about them skiing. I worry about them going on dates,” McDevitt, 62, said at Shawnee Peak in Bridgton.
As spring weather drew skiers and riders to Maine ski mountains on Friday, the reaction to the recent Sugarloaf accident – the ski area’s second in five years – was mostly indifference.
On March 21, the King Pine chairlift at Sugarloaf malfunctioned and began rotating backward, causing some skiers to jump from their seats. Others waited to be helped down from the chairlifts.
In 2010, a different chairlift derailed at Sugarloaf, injuring eight people – including one man who suffered a broken back and traumatic brain injury.
At Shawnee Peak and Newry’s Sunday River, skiers and snowboarders mostly scoffed at the idea that chairlift safety was a concern.
While a few said they do worry about chairlifts malfunctioning, the vast majority said that skiing is an inherently dangerous sport with larger concerns, such as icy trails.
“I think the old T-bars were more dangerous,” said Craig Zahares, 57, of Kennebunk as he set aside his snowboard at Shawnee Peak.
“A lot of the people who got hurt on the Sugarloaf lift were the ones who jumped off.”
However, Kerry Jordan, mother of a 3-year-old and a Shawnee Peak ski instructor, said she worries. If a young child were left in the wind and cold suspended in the air for too long, any parent would be concerned, Jordan said, as she helped her daughter, Avery, navigate over a patch of ice in her ski boots.
“Absolutely I worry. Especially if you have kids. I’ve worried about getting stuck up there with my daughter,” Jordan said.
According to the Maine’s Board of Elevator and Tramway Safety, Sugarloaf’s chairlifts, on average, are older than those at Shawnee Peak and Sunday River, the other two major ski areas in western Maine.
The oldest of Sugarloaf’s 12 chairlifts has been in service since 1969, the newest since 2011. Three of the Sugarloaf chairlifts date back the 1970s.
At Shawnee Peak, two of the four chairlifts are no more than five years old, while the other two have been in service since 1972 and 1997. Sunday River’s chairlifts have been in service from 1984 to 2008, with only one of the 14 more than 30 years old.
Most of those interviewed at Shawnee Peak and Sunday River said chairlift safety is not on their list of concerns – regardless of the ski area.
“Today I’m more worried about getting on a plane,” said Jason Stoots of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
An hour north in Newry, skiers at Sunday River smiled and, in some cases, laughed when asked about chairlift safety.
“It’s better than walking up hill,” said Adam Wade of Boston.
His wife, Meredith Laban, who skied with their two small girls, said, “I’m not too worried. What happened seemed like it was something with the design and they fixed it. I would imagine (Sugarloaf) thinks it’s in their best interests to keep us safe.”
Jim Miller of Bethel said there are dangers in Alpine skiing – and anyone participating in the sport should know that.
When Miller, 78, lived in Washington he was once left suspended on a chairlift for two hours, a brutal experience, he said. However, he made certain that never would happen again.
He went to an Army surplus store, and bought the same kind of rappelling rope used by the 10th Mountain Division in World War II. Armed with the canvas rope, Miller felt confident that if a chairlift stalled or malfunctioned, he had a way out: he could rappel.
The next time he was on a lift stopped in midair, that’s exactly what he did.
“It comes with the territory. I’ve been skiing since I was 11. If you’re going to sweat the chairlifts, you better go find another sport,” Miller said.
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