Carrabassett Valley, ME – A Maine newspaper is reporting that Sugarloaf’s Spillway East chairlift, which derailed on Dec. 28 causing injuries to eight lift riders, was overdue for a state inspection when the incident occurred.nAccording to a report in the Portland Press-Herald, a load test to be conducted every seven years was three and a half weeks overdue at the time of the incident. Officials with the Maine Elevator and Tramway Board, however, in 2008 approved a revised schedule proposed by Sugarloaf ski resort officials that called for the Spillway East chairlift to be inspected in 2011.

A load test calls for the lift to be loaded with barrels of water in each chair to approximate its maximum load carrying capacity. They then test brakes, motors and other components, including sheave trains. It is unknown whether or not the overdue load test would have revealed issues that caused or contributed to the Dec. 28 incident.

While initial reports focused on high winds on the date of the accident, subsequent reports have confirmed that lift workers were attempting to re-align a sheave train just prior to the derailment. Investigators are also looking at why “rope catchers” failed to prevent the cable from jumping from the sheave train, allowing a number of the lift’s chairs to plummet to the ground.