Chairlift death at Breckenridge leads to yet another lawsuit. (2025)

The Zendo lift is pretty new (2013), modern and runs pretty slow (400 feet per minute). But it's fixed grip, so you don't have time at the base station to casually re-arrange things before you're up and away.

And unlike many lifts, the ground beneath the chair drops down and away by the time you get to the first tower. Not a good place to be squirming around on one hip, trying to brush away snow on the seat.

I would think a lift accident could be more impactful because it's less expected. Essentially most of us are prepared for loved ones to die of natural causes at some point, but the less expected a death is, the less prepared we may be. Less prepared can mean more traumatic (in the absence of different levels of suffering)

On a different note, to avoid some pay walls like this you can open the article and turn on airplane mode on your phone after it loads but before the paywall loads.

Use encouraged for a one time read, discouraged for frequent readers who should probably support their local news

TheArchitect said:

This person was probably very comfortable riding chairlifts and done this thing before without any issue. I feel terrible for him and his family.

Stay safe people. Sometimes it‘s the simplest things that cause a tragedy.

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My former father-in-law was an excavator operator his whole life, running big construction equipment, going back to the days of cable bantam cranes. He died in a tractor accident in 1982 on a small garden tractor at his house.
I wonder if we can become numb to, or casual about things like this.
I mean, when you teach kids to load the lift you tell them to not wiggle, just sit down and be still for the entire ride.

dbostedo said:

IANAL, and not sure of local/state laws... but I presume it's a civil suit, which means that percentages of blame can be assigned. Colorado appears to follow a 51% rule. That would mean if they find that not removing ice from the seats is negligent and contributed 51% to the fall/death, the ski resort could be held partly liable.

I'd argue that ice or snow on seats is just a matter of fact for skiing, but no idea how a case and jury will see it.

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Hard to tell about a jury. I was in the jury pool once about a woman that was killed in a collision with a train, and they were suing Ford for defective seat belts. Everyone with a technical or medical background, including me, was excused by the Plaintiff's attorney. Never did hear or read how it turned out.

Tricia said:

My former father-in-law was an excavator operator his whole life, running big construction equipment, going back to the days of cable bantam cranes. He died in a tractor accident in 1982 on a small garden tractor at his house.
I wonder if we can become numb to, or casual about things like this.
I mean, when you teach kids to load the lift you tell them to not wiggle, just sit down and be still for the entire ride.

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I hope to never become numb to it but I suspect for some it does happen. I imagine some lines of work would require a bit of numbness as a self-defense mechanism.

TheArchitect said:

I hope to never become numb to it but I suspect for some it does happen. I imagine some lines of work would require a bit of numbness as a self-defense mechanism.

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Loading the chairlift today on the mountain, this accident was in the front of my mind. Sometimes I have to ask fellow chairlift riders to lower the bar. Today, fortunately, I didn’t need to ask.

Tricia said:

I wonder if we can become numb to, or casual about things like this.

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Complacent comes to mind as a term regularly used within my line of work. When you do something every day; often enough that it becomes second nature, you stop evaluating and assessing dangers in the same way.

TheArchitect said:

I hope to never become numb to it but I suspect for some it does happen. I imagine some lines of work would require a bit of numbness as a self-defense mechanism.

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That's kind of my thought process.
I know a lot of heavy equipment operators and farmers who just do things as second nature and often carelessly because its just routine.

I don't have the bean in my brain that allows that. I just have a natural fear factor that tells me...don't do it!

Tricia said:

That's kind of my thought process.
I know a lot of heavy equipment operators and farmers who just do things as second nature and often carelessly because its just routine.

I don't have the bean in my brain that allows that. I just have a natural fear factor that tells me...don't do it!

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I get that. Same ol same ol. Or is it? My motto, focus on the task at hand.

Between the consequences of careless maneuvers on a lift and the possibility of out-of-control skiers hitting you from behind, it's my practice on the hill to always stay "in the moment" & keep my head on a swivel when on the run.

And to have fun!

Tom K. said:

Same. Says I've reached my limit, but I've never in my life read a Denver Post article.

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Here's something you can try.
1. Go to The Denver Post article - the one you can't read. Copy the URL. (In this instance, it is https://www.denverpost.com/2025/03/19/breckendrige-vail-resorts-skier-death-lawsuit-zendo-colorado/)
2. Go to http://archive.ph.
3. Paste The Denver Post article URL into the appropriate field on http://archive.ph
4. Solve the captcha.
5. An archived readable copy of The Denver Post article should appear.

snwbrdr said:

I can see the lawsuit claiming Breck should have had heated chair seats to prevent the problem in the first place

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There were cases of people backing over kids in vehicles that had backup cameras as options but not standard equipment. The argument was, as a safety item, they should have been standard. I believe they won and now all cars are required to have back up cams. Knowing there are cases like this already it wouldn't surprise me if the attorneys at least mention this about heated seats. And bubbles. Maybe seatbelts on chairs.

Andy Mink said:

I believe they won and now all cars are required to have back up cams.

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That requirement wasn't the result of a lawsuit (i.e. car manufacturers didn't lose a lawsuit, and the ruling wasn't to require them to have cameras), though I'm certain various lawsuits played a part. It was actually a federal safety law that was passed.

Andy Mink said:

There were cases of people backing over kids in vehicles that had backup cameras as options but not standard equipment. The argument was, as a safety item, they should have been standard. I believe they won and now all cars are required to have back up cams. Knowing there are cases like this already it wouldn't surprise me if the attorneys at least mention this about heated seats. And bubbles. Maybe seatbelts on chairs.

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It was a guy that bought an infiniti SUV that did not buy the rear camera option and ran over his daughter.

dbostedo said:

That requirement wasn't the result of a lawsuit (i.e. car manufacturers didn't lose a lawsuit, and the ruling wasn't to require them to have cameras), though I'm certain various lawsuits played a part. It was actually a federal safety law that was passed.

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I'm wondering if the lawsuits precipitated it.

Andy Mink said:

I'm wondering if the lawsuits precipitated it.

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I'd assume they played a role... just pointing out that it was an actual law passed.

Tricia said:

My former father-in-law was an excavator operator his whole life, running big construction equipment, going back to the days of cable bantam cranes. He died in a tractor accident in 1982 on a small garden tractor at his house.
I wonder if we can become numb to, or casual about things like this.
I mean, when you teach kids to load the lift you tell them to not wiggle, just sit down and be still for the entire ride.

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I agree. But I sense that too often people direct their despair from losing a loved one in the wrong direction. Judging by description the lawsuit is… I’ll use the word questionable, but have something more negative in mind. Also because to a degree it throws a shadow of weird conversations over the person who passed away.

Horrible accident is really all you can say about the situation. While it's reasonable to expect a mountain to attempt to clear a chair of ice and snow before allowing people to ride it, slippery chair seats are an inherent risk of the sport.

I am very quick to get the bar down no matter the condition of the chair seat. A quick check to make sure I won't bonk someone and an announcement the bar is coming down is it. I don't mean to place fault on the deceased, but I would never think to clear the snow before pulling the bar down.

I will say that I think all safety bars should have foot rests. I think the foot rests help keep people secure in the chair with the added vertical bar the foot rests provide. I'd prefer if all safety bars had them for this reason more than resting feet / legs. Additionally, foot rests can be helpful in the situation of an icy chair because an adult can stand up on the foot rest while sweeping the area underneath their rear.

Ski in peace fallen skier. Thank you for your years of service patrolling and condolences to your loved ones.