We now know more about what happened on the Comet Express at Heavenly in December when two chairs collided, injuring six people. The Forest Service recently completed an Incident Review Report which I obtained via a public records request.
Comet Express is the oldest detachable chairlift at Heavenly and was constructed by Doppelmayr in 1988. At roughly 9:45 am on December 23rd, a DS103 grip failed to close completely but did not trigger any safety switches when leaving the bottom terminal. The chair, number 66, reached tower 2 before sliding backward into the chair behind it, number 67. Three of the four adults on the slipping chair were ejected and fell approximately 24 feet to the snow below. The fourth passenger jumped from the chair. On the chair that was hit, one teenaged male rider fell and another teen remained pinned between the chairs. The lift was eventually run in reverse to unload him. It is unknown if passengers on chair 66 had lowered the restraint bar but the bar was down on chair 67. Remaining passengers on the lift were unloaded safely without the need for a rope evacuation. A total of six people were injured, five of whom were transported to area hospitals. At least one person was airlifted by helicopter to Reno.
Heavenly Mountain Resort promptly contacted the Forest Service as required following a serious lift incident in a National Forest. Representatives from the USFS, Doppelmayr and Vail Resorts collaborated to review the incident over the following days. “[Heavenly Mountain Resort] was able to take corrective steps and develop a DS-103 Grip Quality Assurance plan to correct the causes leading to the grip failure and provide additional standard operating procedures to reduce future incidents on other HMR ropeways with similar euqipment,” the Forest Service wrote. The resort and Forest Service also “discussed the importance of compliance with Service Bulletins issued by Manufacturers and written documents verifying compliance.” Comet Express was cleared to reopen on December 29th and returned to service the following day.
The Forest Service noted “the purpose of an incident review is not to determine fault or liability” and said it does not conduct investigations. Ski areas generally conduct internal investigations of incidents but it is not standard to submit those to the Forest Service. Vail Resorts has not released details of the curcumstances publicly other than confirming an incident occurred. Though Heavenly operates lifts in both California and Nevada, this incident occurred in Nevada where there is no tramway board to conduct a state investigation.
“We recognize the significance of the incident on Comet Express and offer our sympathy and support to everyone involved,” said Shaydar Edelmann, Heavenly Vice President and General Manager in a statement. “While chairlift incidents like this are extremely rare, we are constantly working to ensure the safety of our employees and our guests on all chairlifts at the resort,” he continued. “In this instance, we identified the cause and worked with the U.S. Forest Service and lift manufacturer to resolve the issue and safely reopen Comet chair. I am grateful to those partners who assisted us throughout the incident, and to our team members who responded quickly and professionally. Safety is our top priority, and we are committed to providing an excellent guest experience at Heavenly.”
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