CARRABASSETT VALLEY – The Sugarloaf Mountain Resort’s Spillway East chairlift came back to life Friday, slowly moving snow-covered chairs up the mountain as it had for more than three decades.
The startup was only a test, however, part of an almost daily effort to ensure that the lift can safely carry passengers again.
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Spillway East remains closed, more than two weeks after its cable derailed on Dec. 28, dropping five chairs to the snow and sending eight skiers to hospitals.
The sheave train assembly on Tower 8 that failed to support the cable has been replaced, but engineers and mechanics who are working for the resort, its insurance company and the state Board of Elevator and Tramway Safety continue to examine other components of the lift.
Tests using weights to simulate passengers had been planned for this week, but were postponed until at least next week, said Ethan Austin, Sugarloaf’s spokesman.
“They are just being very, very thorough,” Austin said of the workers. “They’re examining the entire lift. They are not just looking at Tower 8.”
Wind and limited visibility on Wednesday and Thursday set back the testing schedule, he said. Weight testing will not be done on a weekend because it requires temporarily closing off ski terrain.
Spillway East is a popular and important lift, carrying skiers and snowboarders up the center of the mountain and serving many expert trails. Spillway West carried skiers up the same part of the mountain Friday, but they had to take a second lift to get as high as Spillway East goes.
“(The closure) definitely affects uphill traffic and downhill traffic,” Austin said. “Our guests would like to see Spillway (East) open and we would like to see (it) open. But we have to make sure it’s safe and has the tramway board’s blessing.”
The state licensing board that oversees ski lift safety continues to investigate the accident.
Board spokesman Doug Dunbar said this week that there is no schedule for releasing its report on the causes of the derailment, and it was not clear whether Sugarloaf will be allowed to reopen the lift before the board releases its findings.
Investigations of similar chairlift accidents in other states have taken weeks or months to produce final reports, Austin said.
In an interview Friday, Austin clarified some of the circumstances of the accident, but would not discuss the details of the investigation.
Austin confirmed, for example, that the sheave train wheel assembly on Tower 8 was out of line — tilted sideways — before the derailment. The problem has been widely reported as a misaligned cable, meaning the cable was running toward the outside edge of the grooved wheels.
“When that happens, it’s because of the sheave train being out of alignment,” Austin said.
A ski patrol member who was passing under the chairlift saw the tilted sheave train and alerted mechanics, who tried unsuccessfully to square up the wheel assembly before the derailment, Austin said. Getting the assembly perpendicular to the ground would shift the cable back to the center of the wheels.
“That’s not necessarily an uncommon thing, for them to climb a tower and have to adjust the sheave train,” he said.
Earlier that morning, the sheave train was in proper alignment during inspections by mechanics on the ground and in the chairs, he said.
Austin also confirmed that Spillway East’s cable did not stop moving immediately after the derailment; it dragged the fallen chairs “two or three feet” through the snow.
A mechanism called a brittle bar failed to automatically stop the lift. The mechanic who was perched on Tower 8 used his radio to order the lift stopped.
Skiers at the mountain Friday said they look forward to Spillway East being declared safe and reopening. But most said it hasn’t been hard getting around the mountain in the meantime.
“I don’t think it’s been an imposition at all,” said Jaimee Halpern, a senior at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., who was skiing with members of her college racing team.
“You can get everywhere. It might take a little while longer,” said 84-year-old Armand Andrle of Eddington, who has been a Sugarloaf skier since the 1960s.
On weekends, when the lifts are more crowded, the closure of Spillway East can cause longer lines at other lifts. There were no lift lines on Friday.
Mark Horton of Wilton said he’s sure the engineers and inspectors will take the time they need.
“They’ve got underwriters. It’s all about liability insurance,” he said. “I think they’re going to be very careful in how they go about it.”
Staff Writer John Richardson can be contacted at 791-6324 or at:
jrichardson@pressherald.com
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