Nine people were injured and 100+ others evacuated when a crossarm fell completely off a tower at Timberline Four Seasons Resort around 9:15 this morning, causing skiers to contact the snow. Thankfully, only two of those people required hospitalization despite the fact that numerous chairs fell 10-20 feet during public operation. The lift in question is called Thunderstruck and was built by Borvig in 1986. It has Leitner chairs and is just over 4,100 feet long with 17 towers. Tower 12 is the one that failed. The pictures are harrowing and this incident could have been much worse. Sugarloaf’s two recent high-profile accidents involved Borvig lifts – a de-ropement with chairs contacting the ground in 2010 and rollback in 2015.
Lift Blog 
Bottom Line: Lift Inspections are a must. The older the lift, the more it needs to be inspected with a fine tooth comb. Obviously the weld gave way… never seen a crack in steel that precise. (see top of tower) – May not be a specific Borvig problem but a problem related to the company that constructed or repaired the towers. I’d be curious to see what the inside of the tower looks like… rusty or pristine – that will tell you lots about the quality of the welds
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