Srini Venkatraman hadn't completed a single run when high winds misaligned a cable at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine and five chairs fell to the ground.
"My chair was swinging so bad it was bouncing from one side to the other. It was windy and the chairs kind of shake a little bit up there, but this was really bad," Venkatraman told NewsChannel 15.
He wasn't hurt during the December 28 ordeal, but he was riding only 20 chairs up from where several people fell to the snow. Venkatraman spent a half hour on the lift before rescue teams helped him to the ground using a pulley system. "They tie it on to your body and then they lower you down from the lift. Your skis are on and you drop your poles and then you get on this thing."
Eight people were hurt and everyone was buzzing about the accident back at the lodge. "They weren't sure what exactly happened to the chair lift. There were some people from the state who were doing an investigation. There were rumors and speculation about what had happened, whether it was the lift or if there was a mechanical fault."
It was later confirmed that high winds were responsible for the misaligned cable on the 35 year old lift that had passed a recent inspection.
Venkatraman says the accident made his vacation that much more memorable, but he didn't let it stop him from doing what he had gone to Maine to do. "The other lifts were open, so I got back on. I think I did five to seven, not sure how many runs I did, but I pretty much skied all day. Then I went back the next day and everything was fine."
