Carrabassett Valley, ME – The Maine State Board of Elevator and Tramway Safety on Friday released its report following an investigation into the deropement of the Spillway East Chairlift at Sugarloaf Resort last December.

While the report failed to identify a specific cause for the December 28 mishap, in which a number of the ski lifts loaded chairs plunged 25-30 feet to the ground, investigators faulted the Maine resort for inconsistent maintenance training standards and inadequate maintenance programs. They found that resort officials even lacked a complete maintenance manual for the aging chairlift, which is currently earmarked for replacement.

Investigators believe that high winds at the time of the incident, along with maintenance shortcomings all played a role in the mishap that left a number of skiers injured. They further noted that a lift operator had to manually stop the chairlift after automated mechanisms to do so failed.

The report further indicated that the ski resort had an unorthodox method of realigning sheave trains, the wheels on a ski lift tower that guide the lift cable. A mechanic was in the process of realigning a sheave train on the lift’s tower 8 immediately prior to the accident.

“While the report did not identify a specific cause for the deropement, it did identify mechanical, environmental and human factors that may have contributed,” indicated John Diller, General Manager at Sugarloaf. “The report identifies potential deficiencies in certain training and record-keeping procedures.  After the incident, we conducted a thorough review of our lift maintenance procedures, internally and with outside experts, and instituted several changes.  These include new standardized and formalized processes for training our lift maintenance personnel, and new, standardized record keeping procedures.

In the December incident the chairlift’s haul rope jumped from the sheave train. Rope catchers designed to prevent the cable from falling to the ground failed, allowing a number of occupied lift chairs to impact the ground below.

“The Spillway East chair was slated for replacement prior to the accident,” Diller added. “It is now being dismantled in preparation for the installation of the new lift. Two other lifts at Sugarloaf with sheave train assemblies similar to those that were in place on Spillway East will be retrofitted over the summer with fixed sheave train assemblies as a precautionary measure.”