Girl falls 30ft off ski lift after slipping out of seat | US News

This is the chilling moment a snowboarder plunged more than 30 feet off a ski lift, landing on the ground.

Footage shared on Instagram shows the 16-year-old girl dangling from the chair for a few minutes at Mammoth Mountain, in California.

Employees can be seen holding a ‘deceleration net’ to help cushion her fall and eventually, she is seen falling down.

Other skiers at the resort, on the edge of the Sierra Nevada, could only hope for the best as they watched the situation unravel in front of them.

They can be heard gasping in horror as a big ‘thud’ sound is heard from the girl’s fall.

Unfortunately, the net did not fully protect her from the impact with the ground and the victim was rushed to hospital.

The full extent of her injuries from Saturday’s incident are not yet confirmed.

The resort said the girl had been sitting incorrectly as the lift set off and began ‘sliding off’ the chair.

Other riders were seen holding on to her but were apparently unable to pull her back up.

Meanwhile, skiers accused the lift operators of not paying attention and ‘missing catching her’.

An Instagram user who shared the video wrote in the caption: ‘Ski patrol failed this girl today, totally missing catching her with the net after convincing her everything was okay!

‘Telling her Just to jump already I heard the ski patrol say they’ve never done this before and was way under experienced for this situation!’

A spokesperson from the mountain operator said the net decelerated the girl’s fall, but ‘did not stop it’.

‘Five Mammoth Mountain employees and eight guests immediately responded and positioned the deceleration net under the guest,’ a statement cited by ABC said.

‘When the guest slipped from the grasp of her chair mates, the net decelerated her fall, but did not stop it.

‘The guest was transported to Mammoth Hospital for evaluation. Our thoughts are with the guest and her family.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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