Aspen–A 10-year-old girl escaped serious injuries Monday when she fell about 50 feet from a chairlift at the Aspen Highlands ski area, company officials said.
That’s roughly the equivalent of falling from the roof of a four-story building.
The girl, visiting from Germany, was taking part in a ski school lesson about 10 a.m. at the Cloud Nine lift. She was riding with other students, but the safety bar was not lowered and she began slipping from the lift at one of its highest points.
According to a statement from the Aspen Skiing Co., “Two of the girls on the chair indicate that they were never fully seated and the young girl who fell lost a ski shortly after loading.
The girl’s instructor noticed her slipping from the chair and yelled back to the lift attendants who immediately called ski patrol.” The girl, whose name has not been released, suffered minor injuries, according to Aspen Skiing Co. spokesman Jeff Hanle. She was wearing a helmet when she fell.
“She’s fortunate the injuries weren’t as bad as they could have been,” Hanle said. “We are hoping for a speedy recovery and are staying in touch with her family.”
Monday’s lift fall is the most notable since 1999, when a 44-year-old man and his 8-year-old son, both from Florida, fell about 40 feet off the Summit Express chairlift. The father suffered a broken femur and pelvis.
