Comments on: Ski lift derails at The Lecht Ski Centre

By: SnowandSunUk

SnowandSunUk — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 22:57:59 +0000

Thoughts out to the injured. I’ve fallen off before now about 20ft up but luckily it was into deep snow! Let’s just say on a 2 man chair my mate was a bit bigger than me and I couldn’t get my arse onto the chair as a result. Anyway lets hope they do a series of cHecks and upgrades now.

By: J W

J W — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 18:50:53 +0000

The Large Lecht chairlift is only a fe years old as a result of a large investment. I’m not sure if it is that one that is involved. We are just back from Glenshee on Monday and they are pretty strict about stopping the lifts if the wind gets up. They had 20 tows open tho so no queues and lovely deep snow. You can avoid the chairlifts at glenshee and use pomas if u. Want although they do still have a few t-bars which are a bit out of fashion now . I assure there must be inspection regimes but if there isn’t there should be.

By: Mitch Buckley

Mitch Buckley — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 18:48:35 +0000

I have ridden at all 5 ski areas and while there are a few decent lifts, most are old and rickety. If the snow and weather was a bit more reliable throughout the season then they could afford to update them but of course its not!
I presume that all lifts are safety inspected and tested each day and throughout the season so even though the lift is old it should have still been in safe running order.

By: samwise

samwise — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 18:10:39 +0000

I appreciate ‘safety first’. But a small Scottish resort stands no chance. Having worked on ski lifts the cable alone costs over a million US dollars on a high speed quad chair lift. Let alone the rest of it!

By: Bruce Hosie

Bruce Hosie — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 15:35:47 +0000

The Lecht is a great resort considering its capacity compared to other scottish resorts. The staff are the best about. Yes a chairlift up-grade is required but without lottery or goverment funding that wont be easy for them to achieve. Perhaps the goverment should introduce a new safety scheme for scottish resorts and help fund improvements as this is a large part of our tourist industry in the winter months. Thoughts are with those who are injured. No-body should blame the lecht as “excuse my french” they can only piss with the cock they have got.

By: carrie mccormick

carrie mccormick — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:56:16 +0000

Having been to Glencoe recently I definitely did not feel safe on main chairlift. When gale force winds forced the closure of the slope. The descent was terrifying, the winds were blowing severely and the chairlifts did seem at risk of derailment and harnesses weren’t exactly secure seeing as the are held over you. If the weather keeps up and business is good I think that should be first priority in investment

By: Will Edlin

Will Edlin — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:48:22 +0000

Went on that chairlift about 3 weeks ago, was pretty old school. I have seen a drag lift in France derail but a line of people falling over simultaneously is funnier than children falling from the sky.

By: Ali hay

Ali hay — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 12:50:36 +0000

i ride cairngorm resort everydat and ther pully systems are all in decent nick.but from what ive geard about some of the other resorts is that they are in a definate need of a bit of TLC maybe some funding from the governemnt would be good here.

By: Matt Darlington

Matt Darlington — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 10:52:26 +0000

I go each year to Scotland, mainly the Nevis range. I have always enjoyed it and never had a bad time, but have to admit that there are a lot of things that could do with updating. The lifts are one thing they could do with updating, also along with fences. I still will visit Scotland even if they dont do the updates, but would be nice to see the improvements.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 10:51:42 +0000

Thoughts go out the injured and hope the spinal injury isn’t permanent. I have been to all the ski hills in scotland and i gotta say (in general) the lifts are pretty old and have a tendency to break down and have issues all the time. Luckily most of them are surface lifts, so when this happen you simply slide off down the hill and head to another lift! Some strict regulations might have stopped this from happening but would it mean more expensive lift tickets or even more hard times for the ski areas