A chair on the Gunbarrel quad chairlift at Thredbo dislodged today, dropping metres to the ground with a skier on the chair.
The incident happened at 3pm and has been confirmed by a Thredbo spokesperson to have been caused by a “freak gust of wind.”
The guest involved in the incident sustained minor bruising and the accident happened close to the top of the terminal at the end of his chairlift ride to the top. As you can see in the images below he walked away relatively and remarkably unscathed.
No other guests or chairs were affected. Thredbo ski patrol attended to the guest who we think should be buying a lottery ticket about now if he’s not already downing brandy.
“Thredbo remains committed to the safety of our guests and our people” said the Thredbo spokesperson regarding the incident.
A new storm front is hitting the Snowy Mountains overnight bringing severe weather warnings for damaging winds for the Snowy Mountains and Alpine Victoria tomorrow. Blizzard conditions are likely with up to 30cms of snow expected at most resorts.
UPDATE – The Canberra Times is reporting (Tuesday) that SafeWork NSW shut down the chairlift pending an investigation and lift assessment with a non disturbance order in effect.
UPDATE – Thredbo release a statement about the incident.
