johno01

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57219737

awful news from Italy but what sends shivers down my spine is it says it failed at 300 meters high....I can’t stand heights but to fall from 300 meters high in a little cable car type thing.. Very sad.

RockyRoad

It was 300 metres from the top of mountain (end of the run), not 300 metres high. Was probably only 10-20m off the ground. Still an awful thing to happen. I’ve been on a couple of cable cars and they always feel pretty rickety.

johno01

cheers mate

BMWhere?

Sad news, one of my biggest fears as a skier!

I was skiing on the glacier area at Sölden in Austria when the communication cable on a gondola lift snapped during a storm and wrapped around a gondola which then fell onto the piste below. Fortunately it was a downhill gondola so was empty and nobody was hit on the piste below. The same lift had another accident when a helicopter accidentally dropped a concrete block onto the lift, around 17 killed IIRC, mostly children. Both accidents were within the first few years of the lift being built!

Such accidents are thankfully extremely rare!

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

In this case looks like the safety brake that triggers when the towing cable fails was intentionally disabled. Causing the gondola to freely roll back down the mountain until went so fast it swung around, hit a pylon and jumped off the guides.

Had to be truely terrifying for those on board (think I'd be trying to jump out if I could get a door/window open).

That's some serious malpractice by the operators. Not only that but the tow cable shouldn't fail in the first place if it's properly inspected and maintained....similar reason why I'm a bit phobic on elevators...you just don't know what kind of jobsworth is maintaining them (was once offered a job in that sector, no ta...crap pay, long/awkward hours).