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Posted on Wednesday January 12th at 9:10 a.m.
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Thern there was a serious accident and some damning publicity from the local newspaper about the new loading system and automatic safety bar on the new chairlift, the Meadows Express.
At the time my first thought was, "How Ridiculous, automatically closing safety bars, who needs them?" And reading many other comments people seemed to agree.
Snowco Forum, Mountain Scene Articles "Snow Mum's Hell" & NZSki Sorts Danger Chairlift, and a Snowco Opinion Poll.
"This is another case of my free will being reeled in isn't it. I choose whether or not to lower my saftey bar!"
"The physics of a passenger sitting properly in a chairlift do not require use of a restraining bar. If the chairlift stops suddenly (as from use of the system emergency brake), the carrier's arm connecting to the grip pivots smoothly forward-driven by the chair's inertia-and maintains friction (and seating angle) between the seat and passenger. The restraining bar is useful for children-who do not fit comfortably into adult sized chairs-as well as apprehensive passengers, and for those who are disinclined or unable to sit still. In addition, restraining bars with footrests reduce muscle fatigue from supporting the weight of a snowboard or skis, especially during long lift rides. The restraining bar is also useful in very strong wind and when the chair is coated by ice."
First you push through the MyPass gates...
then through the access gates onto the travelator then...
stand while you are moved into position and,
pole tips up and sit down when the chair arrives.
Lean back, the bar will GENTLY lower...
using this mechanism.
At the top you can raise the bar or,
it will raise automatically...
as if by magic.
But I made this assumption without checking out the installation as, I suspect did most of the people who made comment about this tragic accident.
The lift was manufactured and installed by Lietner-Poma which is a company primarily based in Colorado and Ontario. The other major aeiral ropeways manufacturing comany who install and maintain lifts in New Zealand is Dopplmayer who are based in Austria. Both lift companies now produce lifts with automatic loading and safety bar systems.
I went to Coronet to get more understanding as to how the system works. I spoke at length to Hamish McCrostie, the ski area manager about the system and how it works. We rode up and then back down again to see first hand how it works.
Now I am not going to comment about the accident, or what adjustments nzski.com made to the lift other than to say that Hamish told me that they had adjusted two springs to lessen the pressure that the bar is lowered once the chair starts its journey from the loading area.
What I will say is that these automatic safety bars are increasingly being made as a standard feature on new chairlifts rather than an optional extra. It is the way of the world and initial glitch aside, (I hope that your neck is fully healed now Janine) you will be seeing more of these loading systems installed as new lifts go in around the country.