Carrabassett Valley, ME – Even though investigators are focusing on high winds as a potential cause of Tuesday’s chairlift derailment that sent eight Sugarloaf guests to the hospital on Tuesday, ski area officials now admit to making adjustments to the Spillway East chairlift just prior to the accident.

The investigation, which is still ongoing, began on Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, the State of Maine Board of Elevators and Tramways indicated that wind was a contributing factor in the derailment in which the chairlift’s cable fell from the wheels that guide it across tower 8, known as sheaves, sending passengers plummeting up to 30 feet to the ground. Sugarloaf officials nonetheless now admit that they made adjustments to the sheaves on tower 8 immediately prior to the incident.

Sugarloaf experienced high winds immediately following a major snowstorm on Monday which dropped 22 inches of snow on the Maine ski resort. As a result several lifts, including the Spillway East chairlift, were placed on wind hold at the start of operations Tuesday morning.

Winds diminished as the morning progressed, and Spillway East was evaluated by the ski patrol director of Sugarloaf Mountain and a chairlift mechanic.
That evaluation reportedly included towers, top and bottom terminals, and the completion of the resort’s standard safety checks. The chairlift was opened to the public at 9:55 a.m.

At 10:23 a.m., the Lift Operations Department received a maintenance request for tower 8 from a Sugarloaf ski patroller. Two chairlift mechanics were dispatched at that time. The chairlift cable was observed to be running toward the outside of the rubber liners of the sheave train on Tower 8.

At 10:30 a.m., one lift mechanic arrived at tower 8 and another arrived at the bottom terminal of Spillway East. Working in tandem, the mechanic at the bottom terminal of Spillway East communicated with the mechanic on tower 8 while he made an adjustment to the sheave train. The lift was slowly started to enable the cable to settle back into the correct location on the sheaves.

The realignment effort was said to have been unsuccessful. The mechanics repeated the procedure, again unsuccessfully. The mechanic on tower 8 determined that it would be inappropriate to run the chair at normal operating speed and the lift should be closed.

Mechanics started the lift at a slow operating speed to begin off-loading the nearly 200 guests who were on the lift. Shortly after starting the lift at reduced speed, the lift cable deroped from tower 8, leaving the cable suspended between tower 9 and tower 7. Lacking the support of the sheave wheels on tower 8, five chairs struck the snow below.

When the deropement occurred, the mechanic on tower 8 immediately notified the mechanic at the bottom terminal of Spillway East about the deropement. The lift was immediately stopped and locked out from further movement. Ski patrol was immediately notified and lift evacuation procedures began at 10:45 a.m. At 12:14 p.m. Tuesday all guests had been evacuated from the lift.

Six people were treated for injuries and sent to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, Maine. A seventh person, who initially was cleared to leave the scene, was admitted later in the day. On Wednesday, Sugarloaf Mountain learned that an eighth guest, who was initially cleared to leave the scene, checked into Franklin Memorial Hospital.

Three patients were transported from Franklin Memorial Hospital to Maine Medical Center in Portland due to the nature of their injuries. Sugarloaf cited patient and family confidentiality regulations in refusing to identify the victims.

The State of Maine Elevator and Tramway Board has noted that there was some damage to lift components due to the deropement. All mechanical components remained in place after the incident but those damaged have since been removed by investigators for further analysis. The resort plans to replace the damaged parts with new equipment and go through safety testing and inspections prior to reopening the lift to the public.

Other lifts at Sugarloaf continue normal operations through the holiday week.