A viral video on social media shows a teenage girl falling from a ski lift in California after a rescue attempt by the ski resort’s employees appeared to be unsuccessful.
A statement released by the Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort noted that a 16-year-old female snowboarder loaded onto the Stump Alley Express ski lift at roughly 11:40 a.m. on January 27. The teenage snowboarder was accompanied by two other riders.
“As the chair began its ascent, the guest, who for unknown reasons was not completely seated, began sliding off the chair,” a Mammoth Mountain spokesperson stated.
Mammoth Mountain explained that the two other individuals were able to grab onto the 16-year-old to prevent her from falling while the ski resort’s employees stopped the lift. After stopping the lift, five Mammoth Mountain employees and eight resort guests positioned a “deceleration net” under the snowboarder. However, when the 16-year-old eventually “slipped from the grasp of her chair mates,” the net was not able to fully stop the snowboarder’s fall.
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“When she finally dropped down, she really just clipped the edge of the net; she didn’t land in the center where she was supposed to land, so I don’t think it did really too much to break her fall,” one eyewitness of the accident said.
The Daily Wire reported that the snowboarder’s fall was roughly 30 feet. While the teenage snowboarder was transported to Mammoth Hospital, her condition has not yet been disclosed.
Video of the incident was later shared by an Instagram user, along with the caption, “The ski patrol failed this girl today, totally missing catching her with the net after convincing her everything was okay!! Telling her Just to jump already I heard the ski patrol say they’ve never done this before and was way under experienced for this situation!! Mammoth needs to do better!!”
