Ski lift drops at Big Squaw Man remains in hospital

GREENVILLE – Three people escaped serious injury Sunday morning and one man was transferred to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor when a chairlift malfunction at Big Squaw Mountain caused a chair to plummet 15 feet to the ground.

According to Rich Donaher, Big Squaw’s manager, at about 11:30 a.m. a chair carrying two skiers slid backward along the cable, crashed into a car behind it and detached from the lift, falling to the snow.

“There was some sort of malfunction. We don’t exactly know what caused it yet, but it’s under investigation,” Donaher said. “We just recently had the lift inspected.”

One of the men landed awkwardly and was taken to Charles A. Dean Memorial Hospital complaining of injuries to his back. Donaher said a call from the hospital to Big Squaw told him the man was resting peacefully and awaiting X-rays. Later Sunday, Donaher said the man had been transferred to EMMC in Bangor and was advised to see a neurologist.

The other man in the fallen chair injured his arm, Donaher said, and also was taken to Dean Hospital and released.

Two skiers, a father and son, were seated in the chair behind the one that fell and saw the chair become dislodged and slide toward them. Donaher said the two were shaken up but not harmed. Both went to Dean Hospital on their own to be examined, were released and returned to the mountain later Sunday, Donaher said.

“They were pretty frightened to see the chair coming at them like that,” said Donaher, who spoke with the men after the accident. “I think they were relieved that they weren’t seriously injured.”

Donaher said he has been at Big Squaw Mountain for nearly 25 years and never had seen an accident like that before.

“That lift was installed in 1967 or 1968, I think, and it’s been a reliable Cadillac of a lift,” Donaher said. “This is something new for us.

“It can always be worse, but we do feel good about the fact that three of the four [men] weren’t injured seriously and we’re hopeful that the other gentleman turns out OK, too.”