Outside Magazine
Response
The article published in Outside Online concerning the safety of the chair lifts of our nation could unsettle those
unfamiliar with the ski industry and their practices. The ski industry is in
the business of moving people, primarily uphill, through the use of ropeways.
The age of the ropeway systems in the United
States is growing older and the lifts continue to run each season receiving
maintenance when required. Because ropeways have a predetermined life span, it
is logical to assume resorts will use their lifts until it becomes more efficient
to replace the lift instead of repair it. Because of the number of lifts in the
country, it is reasonable to assume regular maintenance checks will eventually
miss something that will in time cause the lift to fail. For example, on March
21, 2015 a chair lift at Sugarloaf lost traction and rolled back. It was
eventually stopped by the emergency brake, the “gear appears to have failed
some time before the March incident but went unnoticed” (“Borrell”). Ski areas
may not be aware of issues until the lift fails; it is most likely more
dangerous driving to the resort than it is riding the lifts. Since 1973,
“13 deaths and 73 injuries resulting from 10 lift malfunctions in the
United States” (“Borrell”) have been recorded. More importantly the industry
“has not experienced a fatality resulting from a lift malfunction since 1993, a
23 year period” (“NSAA”). This indicates the industry made improvements in
ropeway safety; the article only mentioned the death in 1993 and then redirects
focus to the lack of national lift safety and maintenance requirements, quickly glazing over this
achievement.
Cal OSHA regulates tramways in California and
oversaw the data at the location of the last fatality and does not share data
bases with the NSAA. NSAA could not have been known about the incident at the
time Outside Magazine contacted them about the March 1993 incident. In addition
to not sharing databases with NSAA, Cal OSHA withholds “nearly all information
about accidents, injuries and safety practices from the public and the
government” according to an executive summary about the 2012/2013 ski season,
which explains why NSAA would be unaware of the latest fatality and would have
been unable to record it for their records.
It is unclear how “local resort” is defined by
Outside Magazine defined, is a local resort the resort you go to the most
often, acreage that is available to ski, or the distance from the skier to the
resort? If “local” is defined by the skiable acreage of a resort, then Snow
Trails, OH might fall into the “local” category with only 80 skiable acres
(“Trails”) as compared to Vail Mountain’s 5,289 skiable acres (“Vail”). It
would be illogical to define local by how many miles must be driven to reach
the resort because what some consider close, others consider a road trip; the
author is very vague about how local is defined. In conclusion, the article
published by Outside Magazine sheds light on what could become an issue for the
ski industry should it be left un-addressed, however the data does not support
the ‘death trap’ concept suggested by the author.
NSAA records are availabe to the public and can
be accessed through their website, https://www.nsaa.org/,
as well as the fact sheet that was used as a reference for this response (see
NSAA 1). See Cal OSHA below for tramway regulations in place as of October
2016.
The following content is a letter that was sent from NSAA to Outside Magazine after the article was posted.
NSAA Open Letter on Outside Magazine Chairlift Safety Article
The ski industry has serious concerns with Outside’s recent article “Is Your Local Chairlift a
Death Trap?” The exaggerated, sensational tone, the significant errors—and especially the
critical omissions—are far beneath Outside’s typical standards of excellence. Look no further
than the choice of the lurid graphic of skeletons—yes, skeletons—riding a chairlift to appreciate
that Outside’s true goal here was more click-bait than objective analysis. The article is a
disservice to the ski industry as well as Outside’s readership.
Here are the facts. There is no transportation system as safely operated, with so few injuries
and fatalities, as the uphill transportation provided by chairlifts at ski resorts in the U.S. To put
things in perspective, a passenger is five times more likely to suffer a fatality riding an elevator
than a ski lift, and eight times more likely to suffer a fatality riding in a car than on a ski lift. Ski
areas have responsibly invested almost half a billion dollars in lift replacements, upgrades and
maintenance over the past 10 years.
Despite “months researching,” the article was sloppy with the facts and greatly inflated the risk
to the public of riding chairlifts at ski areas. For example, the article misleadingly highlighted
Mad River Glen’s iconic single chair (installed in 1948) as an illustration of aging lifts—when in
fact the ski area opted to entirely rebuild its famed single chair in 2007, at a much higher cost
than replacing it with a double chair, including state-of-art components and safety systems.
This mistake was particularly ironic given that the article contained a link to a source describing
exactly the great lengths taken to ensure its safety.
Outside’s lack of objectivity was underscored when the article cited Dick Penniman as a noted
authority on chairlifts—a man who has absolutely no engineering expertise on chairlifts and
extremely limited ski area operations experience otherwise. During Outside’s research on the
article, NSAA stressed to the writer that Mr. Penniman has never been a member of the ANSI
B77 committee (which is open to the public), and that in fact, the committee rejected him for
falsifying his application. Outside intentionally refused to include this critical detail, giving Mr.
Penniman a sense of credibility that is utterly undeserved on this important issue.
Contrary to the impression readers get from the article, ski area chairlifts are regulated. State
tramway authorities and the US Forest Service, through a team of tramway engineers, regulate
lift operations at ski areas. Moreover, every U.S. ski area adheres to the rigorous American
National Standard (ANS) B77.1 Standard, a national consensus safety standard followed in the
U.S. and mirrored in Canada (Z98) and Europe (CEN). The ANSI B77.1 Standard is required to
be updated every 5 years by ANSI regulation. Although the article discounts consensus
standards as “voluntary,” in fact, consensus standards are developed with input from the federal
government, industry, academia, consumer groups and other stakeholders. The federal
government relies on consensus safety standards out of necessity, and there are over 22,000 of
them in effect in the U.S.
Furthermore, there is nothing cursory about ski lift inspections. Annual inspections are
conducted pursuant to state regulations, insurance policy requirements and U.S. Forest Service
permit requirements. Additionally, ski areas conscientiously inspect their own lifts and
components daily, weekly, and throughout the entire year.
Finally, you won’t find an industry more transparent than the ski industry when it comes to
reporting safety data. There are no skeletons in our closet. NSAA annually compiles a
comprehensive report for the media and the public detailing lift incidents going back four
decades. Visit the home page of www.nsaa.org for links to in-depth data on lift safety. Neither
the elevator industry nor the amusement industry compile similar reports of their incidents. The
ski industry deserves full credit for its transparency.
In closing, the ski industry is fully committed to the safe operation of our chairlifts and we have
an exemplary track record to show for it. The ski industry deserves a more objective and truthful
treatment of this complex topic, without resort to hyperbole and sensationalism.
NSAA Open Letter on Outside Magazine Chairlift Safety Article
The ski industry has serious concerns with Outside’s recent article “Is Your Local Chairlift a
Death Trap?” The exaggerated, sensational tone, the significant errors—and especially the
critical omissions—are far beneath Outside’s typical standards of excellence. Look no further
than the choice of the lurid graphic of skeletons—yes, skeletons—riding a chairlift to appreciate
that Outside’s true goal here was more click-bait than objective analysis. The article is a
disservice to the ski industry as well as Outside’s readership.
Here are the facts. There is no transportation system as safely operated, with so few injuries
and fatalities, as the uphill transportation provided by chairlifts at ski resorts in the U.S. To put
things in perspective, a passenger is five times more likely to suffer a fatality riding an elevator
than a ski lift, and eight times more likely to suffer a fatality riding in a car than on a ski lift. Ski
areas have responsibly invested almost half a billion dollars in lift replacements, upgrades and
maintenance over the past 10 years.
Despite “months researching,” the article was sloppy with the facts and greatly inflated the risk
to the public of riding chairlifts at ski areas. For example, the article misleadingly highlighted
Mad River Glen’s iconic single chair (installed in 1948) as an illustration of aging lifts—when in
fact the ski area opted to entirely rebuild its famed single chair in 2007, at a much higher cost
than replacing it with a double chair, including state-of-art components and safety systems.
This mistake was particularly ironic given that the article contained a link to a source describing
exactly the great lengths taken to ensure its safety.
Outside’s lack of objectivity was underscored when the article cited Dick Penniman as a noted
authority on chairlifts—a man who has absolutely no engineering expertise on chairlifts and
extremely limited ski area operations experience otherwise. During Outside’s research on the
article, NSAA stressed to the writer that Mr. Penniman has never been a member of the ANSI
B77 committee (which is open to the public), and that in fact, the committee rejected him for
falsifying his application. Outside intentionally refused to include this critical detail, giving Mr.
Penniman a sense of credibility that is utterly undeserved on this important issue.
Contrary to the impression readers get from the article, ski area chairlifts are regulated. State
tramway authorities and the US Forest Service, through a team of tramway engineers, regulate
lift operations at ski areas. Moreover, every U.S. ski area adheres to the rigorous American
National Standard (ANS) B77.1 Standard, a national consensus safety standard followed in the
U.S. and mirrored in Canada (Z98) and Europe (CEN). The ANSI B77.1 Standard is required to
be updated every 5 years by ANSI regulation. Although the article discounts consensus
standards as “voluntary,” in fact, consensus standards are developed with input from the federal
government, industry, academia, consumer groups and other stakeholders. The federal
government relies on consensus safety standards out of necessity, and there are over 22,000 of
them in effect in the U.S.
Furthermore, there is nothing cursory about ski lift inspections. Annual inspections are
conducted pursuant to state regulations, insurance policy requirements and U.S. Forest Service
permit requirements. Additionally, ski areas conscientiously inspect their own lifts and
components daily, weekly, and throughout the entire year.
Finally, you won’t find an industry more transparent than the ski industry when it comes to
reporting safety data. There are no skeletons in our closet. NSAA annually compiles a
comprehensive report for the media and the public detailing lift incidents going back four
decades. Visit the home page of www.nsaa.org for links to in-depth data on lift safety. Neither
the elevator industry nor the amusement industry compile similar reports of their incidents. The
ski industry deserves full credit for its transparency.
In closing, the ski industry is fully committed to the safe operation of our chairlifts and we have
an exemplary track record to show for it. The ski industry deserves a more objective and truthful
treatment of this complex topic, without resort to hyperbole and sensationalism.
SOURCES
Borrell, Brendan.
"Is Your Local Chairlift a Death Trap?" Outside Online. N.p.,
12 Oct. 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
NSAA
NSAA 1
Cal OSHA
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/aroffices.htm
Cal OSHA 2
Trails, Snow. "GET
TO KNOW SNOW TRAILS." Snow Trails. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
"Vail Ski Resort." Wikipedia.
Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016
