A young skier caught upside down on a chairlift and left dangling some 20 feet above the ground was saved after dropping into a net held by rescuers at Mammoth Mountain Thursday.
The safe ending was caught on camera by onlookers, one of whom posted video on Instagram.
A witness who ran to help told KTLA the incident occurred shortly after noon on Lift No. 2, Stump Alley Express, out of the Mill area at the Mammoth Lakes resort.
KTLA viewer Chris H. sent in this photo of a rescue of a skier at Mammoth Mountain on Jan. 4, 2017.
A group of four skiers were trying to get on the lift when something went wrong. Two of them ended up in the pit below the lift, while a young woman was caught on the foot bar by her knee and hoisted into the air upside down, the witness said.
“I heard her mother screaming and the lift cranks to a stop,” said Jana PalmsVista of Santa Monica.
Several lift operators – aka “lifties” – rushed to grab netting and center themselves under the stuck skier, who was some 20 feet up, PalmsVista said.
There was “terror in the liftie guys’ eyes,” PalmsVista recalled.
She and another man, who may have been the skier’s father, ran over to help. Little by little, the skier inched herself into a position from which she could drop into the net.
A gust of wind came, and the skier fell perfectly, PalmsVista said. She was caught by the net and didn’t hit the ground. Video showed onlookers cheering as she landed.
“Those lift guys were amazing,” PalmsVista said. “Excellent training.”
PalmsVista said her son had worked as a lift operator at Mammoth Mountain; he told her they were trained to respond that exact way in such a situation.
The skier was caught upside down for some five to seven minutes, PalmsVista estimated.
KTLA has reached out to Mammoth Mountain for additional details.
The incident happened on a busy day on the mountain, which is about 250 miles north of Los Angeles and a popular winter sports destination from Southern California. Snow is falling in Mammoth Lakes Thursday and parts of the mountain are closed due to weather.
from KTLA http://ift.tt/2AqW2Xl
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