News Roundup: Tragedy in Oklahoma

A work chair on the Skyride at the Tulsa State Fair failed earlier this week causing two mechanics doing line work to fall.
A work chair on the VonRoll Skyride at the Tulsa State Fair failed earlier this week causing two mechanics doing line work to fall.
  • OSHA is investigating the death of one of two mechanics who fell while doing line work on the Skyride at the Tulsa State Fair.  A work chair on the 1965 VonRoll gondola appears to have failed below the hanger, dangling both men from their harnesses.  Steve Shelton, 43, died of trauma as a result.  His family set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral expenses.
  • Poma is setting steel for Europe’s new highest lift in Russia.  The three-stage, two-passenger gondola on Mt. Elbrus will reach 3,847 m/12,621 feet (Breckenridge’s Imperial Express SuperChair goes 350 feet higher.)
  • Sugarloaf begins removing its oldest lift as part of a ‘lift safety’ initiative.  I guess a lift that doesn’t exist is safer than one that does.
  • Hidden Valley, New Jersey’s three Borvig lifts are out and two new Partek lifts are going in.  The ski area which closed in 2013 also has a new name – the National Winter Activity Center.  Follow the progress live here.
  • The city of Cali in Colombia will open MIO Cable, a 10-passenger Poma gondola, on Friday.  The 6,800′ system has four stations and 60 Sigma cabins that move 2,000 passengers per hour each way.
  • Deer Valley Resort, SkyTrac and the NSAA will host an evening program honoring Jan Leonard on October 14th at Snow Park Lodge.
  • Doppelmayr crews fly 11 towers for a new gondola at Lutsen Mountains, Minnesota.  The $7 million system is going up alongside the resort’s Hall gondola, which will run through October 18th.
  • It’s looking like Saddleback, Maine will have a ski season without a new lift.

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