Boy Survives Fall From Sun Valley Ski Lift
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An 8-year-old boy survived a 38-foot fall from a Wood River Valley chairlift with no visible injuries after ski patrollers moved a lift-tower pad beneath him to break the force of the impact.
KTVB-TV reports the youngster likely slipped out of his jacket and dangled from the lift for about five minutes before plunging to a flat cat track below. Ski patrollers had time to unhook a 5-foot by 5-foot safety pad from a nearby lift tower. They held it under the boy, to break his fall. Patrol supervisor Bryant Dunn says the patrollers used the pad for a "fireman's catch."
Sun Valley ski guide Kent Kreitler says he witnessed the fall and credits fast thinking by patrollers from saving the boy from injury. The youngster, meanwhile, resumed skiing on Monday.