The Sugarloaf Ski Lift Accident: One Skier’s Photos
Hank Margolis had some time to kill while waiting to be rescued -- so he tweeted.
Hank Margolis said he was ready to jump back to earth after a ski lift carrying him up Maine’s Sugarloaf Mountain malfunctioned and made a terrifying rapid reverse descent Saturday.
Margolis, who is from Marlborough, said he and his friends are expert skiers who aren’t afraid of a little adrenaline. But he said his first trip on a broken ski lift left him rattled. Seven people were injured in the accident, but none appeared to be seriously hurt.
“We’re not risk takers, we’re people that come out to challenge ourselves on the weekend,’’ he told Boston.com. “You just don’t expect to be challenged on the ski lift.’’
Margolis tweeted through the frightening experience, and agreed to let Boston.com post his photos and tweets.
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Margolis was riding in a seat with three strangers when the chair suddenly stopped and then propelled backwards. He couldn’t estimate the speed of their fall, but said they covered the length of their three-to-four minute ascent in only 20 to 30 seconds.
“The experience was like being in a zip line but going backwards,’’ he said. “We’re in a lift chair, and all of a sudden we’re accelerating backwards…it was terrifying.’’
Realizing that they could be violently thrown from the chair if they went around the bottom tower too fast, Margolis and his seatmates quickly planned an escape. They agreed to ditch their skis and make a last-minute jump as their chair neared the ground.
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Just as Margolis braced himself for the leap, but crews were able to stop their descent. The halt, though, left them dangling high in the air.
Margolis said he and his group were left hanging for nearly two hours, and kept themselves busy with chit-chat and by sharing photos of their evacuation online. Ski patrolmen ultimately threw a baseball tied with a rope over the ski line to allow trapped riders to belay to safety.
Scary as it was, only three people were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, according to a statement from the resort. The lift was carrying about 230 riders.
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“It’s been very cold here,’’ Margolis said. “We’re very fortunate it wasn’t five, ten, 20 degrees below with wind chills. … If that had happened, there would’ve been hypothermic people — probably myself included.’’
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