A viral video is making the rounds showing a young girl dangling from a 25-foot high ski lift, and a group of staff members catching her on the ground below.
The harrowing footage was recorded by Adam Browning, a skiing enthusiast from Cincinnati, Ohio, according to DailyMail. He was expecting a normal day at the slopes when he heard the woman behind him calling for help. He said that, at first, he wasn’t surprised, given the usual conduct on ski lifts.
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“Anyone who skis regularly will tell you there are always general shenanigans when you board the lift,” he said. “You’ll see people fall, lose equipment, et cetera. It’s basically ground zero to spot the inexperienced.”
Lack of experience alone couldn’t account for the predicament Browning witnessed, however. He turned around to see a child dangling precariously from the lift.
“I first became aware of the situation when I heard the woman on the chair scream. You could tell she was absolutely terrified,” he recalled. “I was in my chair with two kids and we all turned around just as the lift stopped. The chair was about 20-25 feet above the ground, and the woman was screaming for help as she was desperately holding onto the chair with one hand, and the child with the other.”
To their credit, the staff members at the ski slope jumped into action. They unfurled an emergency tarp used to catch people falling in the worst case scenario.
“A bunch of staff members quickly gathered under the chair. One of them grabbed the red tarp and they all grabbed a section of it to create a soft surface to catch the girl,” Browning said.
“The entire time, the woman was freaking out, screaming, yelling ‘PLEASE HELP!’” Browning recounted. “One of the staff members was trying to calm her, and told her the only option was to let go of the girl who was slipping off the chair.”
Finally, the little girl was forced to let go.
“She did, and they caught her. The woman on the chair repeatedly asked the girl if she was OK. She said yes, and everyone let out a big sigh of relief,” he added.
Browning said that the scary fall was an anomaly on the ski slopes, and he’s not exactly sure what could have caused it.
“I’m still questioning what could have led to this situation. The whole episode lasted about five minutes. Once the girl was dropped, and they were sure she was OK, the lift resumed and everything was back to normal,” he said.
