Boy falls from Chairlift at Whistler

Seven-year-old skier who fell 40 feet off the Crystal Ridge Express at Whistler Blackcomb would have looked a lot more grim if it wasn’t for Whistler regular Debbi Cottrell, who held the ski-school student for well over five minutes, as well as the team on the ground who caught the little skier. Remarkably, the child sustained no injuries from the ordeal and bravely returned to the slopes to continue skiing.
🎥: Peter Bodik
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#shorts #skiing #whistler #canada

[keeganroodhouse]

I can personally attest that being one of the people holding the fireman’s tarp is terrifying

[SandraHertel-ub]

I remember this being on the news. Those kids that caught the falling boy are boss. Heros!

[laurenm]

I had to go find the article and the boy was completely unharmed and went back up the lift to go ski! The team effort saved that kid’s life!

[dianemower]

The poor brother who was holding onto him will remember this forever. 😢

[loader]

The child holding onto the other one for dear life. Look how exhausted the child is.
You are a hero!!!
God bless you

[sethc]

I was a lift operator at Big Sky MT for a few years, Big Sky has a few residential lifts. they just serve to connect people from some nearby cabins to the main area. you could run that lift all day and somedays you might only see 5 people all day. well i had a kid who accidentally sat on his dads lap instead of the chair and start falling, his dad grabbed him, i stopped the lift, he was only probably 10' high at most. i grab the crash net and run out to set it up, but it was just me. no one else was around. luckily a couple lift mechanics showed up wondering why the lift wasnt spinning. the dad had been holding this kid for several minutes at that point. the lift mechanics come over and grab the net with me. but then dad kicked the kids skis off and managed to pull him up. best case scenario i guess, it was pretty tense for a minute tho. really worked out well for me, because the lift mechanics told my boss and said i had done everything right and put in a good word for me. then i got promoted to supervisor

[jodys]

He was scared witless. And once praised for being brave, he calmed and went home safely. As a mother, i had 25 heart attacks 5 times. And i was just watching

[E_MAFIA]

Just to add some context: the woman is the one holding the boy. None of them are related, aside from the man and the woman being husband and wife. They were seated, in the lift, next to two ski school students. He started to slip and she was able to grab hold of him before he fell, but because there was another child between them, she wasn’t able to pull him back up. Great work by everyone. 💪🏻

[joyholiday]

The small child holding onto the other child is a true hero! He was wore out. ❤

[Danielhobbies]

Guys safety bars are there for a reason. As a ski instructor I have seen lots of accidents and injury's because people refuse to take 1 second to lower the safety bar

Ok, to settle this once and for all for the comment warriors. I have found the news story. 7 year old boy, whom was a ski school student at whistler in Canada, slipped and was being held onto by a regular skier ( Debbie Cottrell). They stopped the lift and got the emergency tarp to catch the boy who was just barely dangling on. THIS WAS NOT A BREAKDOWN AND NOT HOW YOU EVACUATE SKI LIFTS

[JB]

This is why you 1. Sit and immediately pull the bar down. 2. Don't fidget and absolutely don't rotate around to look behind you.

[jarjars]

I vividly remember being in this position as a kid. Going out skiing in the German Alps, the safety bar was struck and I could not move it down myself. Terrified, I just held on to the bench itself. Unfortunately nobody saw me and for some reason I was too much of an idiot to yell for help. When the ski lift took me just between two ski lanes and some trees, the lift suddenly stopped (probably to let some elder or disabled person on). I fell partly off, holding on by the grip of my fingers for a few seconds before falling down.

Thank God that I fell down besides the ski lane, since I fell in a very thick pack of fresh snow that largely broke my fall, I only got off with a few bruises.
I'm a combat veteran, yet that moment as a kid is still the most terrifying of my life.

[aap]

I have been skiing in the European alps for more that 40 years but I have never ever seen something like this before 🤯. Hope the kid is fine ❤

[mayuzo]

The kid was not their child but a ski school student. The couple was asked to share the chair with two students.

What happened was that the boy did not quite get settled on the chair when getting on and started to slip. When they were past the first pylon, the lady noticed what was going on and acted immediately to save him.

Unfortunately, they didn’t even get a chance to get the safety bar down before this started to happen. Also, there was another child between them, so the awkward angle of having to hold onto the boy without having a bar to grasp made it impossible for her to lift him back into his seat, as she had to use her right arm to hold onto the back of the chair. Her husband was also supporting her to save the boy. They were both at risk of slipping themselves because they just didn’t have anything to hold onto.

Five minutes later, the rescue team successfully caught him with a trampoline. The student had no injuries and went back to skiing later that day.

You can Google it for the full story. I’m glad he was ok.

[adriansieja]

The way they all moved and prepared their hands when they saw him drop literally brought me to tears!!

[Lovenwafflestill]

I watched a guy fall off a lift in NC, he hit the support beam on the way down with his face and left a blood smear, he lived with minor injuries though!

[taiyoctopus]

the fact someone suggested that they have those trampoline matts on location, and the fact the company obliged and bought them and maintained them to have them nearby and onhand... Is actually quite amazing. Without that red trampoline mat people would be trying to catch that kid themselves and 2 heads bonking from that height would be no beuno amigo

[anjou]

Poor kids, it must've been terrifying for them. Bravo the rescuers. 💞

[tedd]

Am I the only one that noticed he had a loading issue? That's only 50' from the loading zone. You can't put the bar down if he's not in his seat.

[KairosX]

I was there skiing, my friends saw all this unfold behind them. So glad he was ok.