A reader named Mark Fraleigh, who said he was on one of the first chairs to be evacuated on the Spillway East lift, described the evacuation as smooth.

Fraleigh said he was about two-thirds of the way to the top of the lift when problems began.

“The winds started getting intense, as is typical on the chair,” Fraleigh said in a post on the Press Herald’s sports section Facebook site. “it stopped for a few minutes, started up again and then stopped very soon, after only 10 seconds or so.”

The lift started and stopped again, he said, describing it as “very turbulent,” with the chair bouncing.

Fraliegh said he was only about three chairs from the top of the lift when the lift stopped for the last time.

“We could see a chair at the very top of the lift sitting crooked and we knew something was up and then we were just sitting on the chair being eaten by freezing windchill for roughly 15 minutes,” he said.

“The evacuation team was extremely professional and did everything they could to make it go as smoothly as possible,” wrote Fraleigh, who added that he feels the lift is outdated.

“This is a needed wake up call,” he added

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.