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Snowmaking Pipe Bursts at Beech

Andy Mink

Everyone loves spring skiing but not in January
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The fastest thing to do would be to park a snowmobile over it. That would be a bad job.
I was thinking that too but you'd have to back it close. If you pulled forward it would probably rip the whole front off the sled and launch it into the chair or gathering crowd. That was some serious pressure.
 

sparty

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Two riders were BLASTED off their chair completely when they passed over before it stopped. Another reason to put the bar down.
One of the videos I saw had comments from one of the chair riders who mentioned the water lifting the bar. I'm not sure if she ended up on the ground or not.

I also saw in another linked article that two folks who jumped did end up with significant injuries, and it wasn't clear if the mountain wasn't counting those as part of the incident given that they were a direct result of subpar guest actions.
 

Andy Mink

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I think a lifetime pass is in order for the spray victims.
Beech will be lucky if they get off with lifetime pass for the victims, the families, and the next several generations of families.
 

AtleB

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This finally made it to Norwegian tabloids (accident in chairlift, everyone in shock)
1641976332224.png
 

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sparty

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Note to self-

When building that private ski area, don’t put snowmaking pipes under the lift.
Or just don't invite anyone who is inclined to ski/ride into hydrants to join you.

Actually, I'm not sure I'd go with aerial lifts for a private ski area at all. Surface lifts, while they do require more snow to operate, simplify a lot of what-if scenarios, and a modern t-bar or poma should run faster than a fixed-grip aerial lift.
 

crgildart

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The fastest thing to do would be to park a snowmobile over it. That would be a bad job.
That was probably briefly discussed.. However, resorts really try to avoid running vehicles on trails open for skiing these days.. It was an area with a lot of beginners.. and others commented that the force blasting up would probably just knock over and damage the snowmobile..
 

James

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Possibly you could back the snowmobile up so it just hits the track a bit to deflect the stream. Ideally, put that tower protector down first, then the sled.

But what about opening the other valves upstream if this was pressure in the line? If someone “ran into” the standoff and broke it, surely there’s others?
 

sparty

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Possibly you could back the snowmobile up so it just hits the track a bit to deflect the stream. Ideally, put that tower protector down first, then the sled.

But what about opening the other valves upstream if this was pressure in the line? If someone “ran into” the standoff and broke it, surely there’s others?
I asked that on another forum and someone with snowmaking experience said that in most cases, it would be virtually impossible to open enough additional hydrants quickly enough to make a real difference. When the line is charged, it needs to have enough water pressure for each of those hydrants to support a snowgun, so the total system pressure would remain high enough to hammer the chair for a while; opening additional hydrants without any control over them would just create more of a mess in additional spots.

The rear end of a sled doesn't weigh much, especially if it's actually a mountain sled; most of the weight is in the front end. Trail sleds are a bit heavier and would make an interesting science experiment.
 

ThomasD

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I asked that on another forum and someone with snowmaking experience said that in most cases, it would be virtually impossible to open enough additional hydrants quickly enough to make a real difference. When the line is charged, it needs to have enough water pressure for each of those hydrants to support a snowgun, so the total system pressure would remain high enough to hammer the chair for a while; opening additional hydrants without any control over them would just create more of a mess in additional spots.

The rear end of a sled doesn't weigh much, especially if it's actually a mountain sled; most of the weight is in the front end. Trail sleds are a bit heavier and would make an interesting science experiment.
Less like a science experiment and more like a rodeo.
 

Dwight

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It's water. It's powerful. It doesn't take much to divert it a little bit though.
 

crgildart

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It's water. It's powerful. It doesn't take much to divert it a little bit though.
Someone with a radio telling lift ops.. "Start..... OK STOP" to get the person/people out of the line of fire would have been a lot easier and quicker. There were ski patrols on the scene pretty quickly

Shutting down the pumps and pressure to that main line takes time.. but it's also probably the reality that if they do that ALL the pipes end up with water sitting in them and freeze... underground.. no more snow making for a very long time..
 

crgildart

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At our hill, lift ops don't have radios.
Got two patrols? There were at least four there standing around and only a minute from the base bullwheel for that lift at Beech
 

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