'Teen falls off of chair lift': How does this even happen?
The video below, posted to YouTube on February 18, 2013, shows a guy hanging from a chair lift before falling what looks like roughly 30 feet to the icy snow below. It does not look like a comfortable landing.
My first thought was, "How the hell did that even happen?" The chair lifts shown in the video have a safety bar, after all. The entire purpose of the safety bar is to prevent people from falling off of the chair lift.
A few thoughts upon first watching the chair lift fall video:
- What happened to this guy's snowboard (I'm presuming he's a boarder because of how easily he can lift his boots)? Or did he get on the lift with the express intention of dropping from it?
- Holding on even that long through gloves is pretty impressive, actually.
- Rescuing him would have taken ages, given the terrain.
- The best comment in the entire thread is "not afraid of wolves".
This video has over 1.7 million views (and counting) in just three days. Sure enough, the kid in the video is a snowboarder*. His name is Jacob Gutierrez, and he's 17 years old.
Jacob Gutierrez told ABC News that he was trying to throw a snowball to a friend, which really only raises more questions. The incident took place at Ski Santa Fe in New Mexico on February 2. Gutierrez was hospitalized for three days with a hairline skull fracture and internal injuries.
Jacob Gutierrez told ABC News, "I'm definitely gonna start wearing a helmet from now on", but hopefully he's made more profound adjustments to his decision-making process.
(*I'm not suggesting that snowboarders are inherently careless, only on this particular kid's boots.)
