Ski Experts: Riding In Car Riskier Than Ski Lift
CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine (CBS13/AP) — A week after a seven-year-old boy died after falling from a Tahoe area ski lift, industry experts say skiers are more likely to be injured or killed while driving to the slopes or skiing down the mountain than riding the lifts.
The boy died last week after falling from a ski lift at Sugar Bowl Resort onto hard terrain lacking natural snow.
The experts made the comments a year after another ski lift accident on Sugarloaf in Maine where a cable on an older lift popped out of its track sending chairlifts and skiers crashing to the ground about 30 feet below. Eight people were hurt in that accident.
The mountain resort has a new $3 million lift and Maine officials are working with lift operators to enhance quality assurance programs at the state's ski areas.
Though undoubtedly little comfort to those who were injured, ski lift accidents are rare and deadly accidents are even rarer.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
