A 35-year-old chair lift set for upgrades or replacement failed Tuesday at one of Maine’s most popular ski resorts, sending skiers plummeting into ungroomed snow far below that fell with the Northeast’s recent blizzard and softened the landing.

The Sugarloaf resort in Carrabassett Valley, about 120 miles north of Portland, said about six people were taken to hospitals after five chairs fell. The resort’s ski patrol evacuated the lift.

The resort said the lift, which went into service in 1975 and recently passed an inspection, was set for improvements but wouldn’t say when.

Rebecca London, one of the skiers who tumbled to the snow, told The Associated Press that her face hit a retaining bar, but that her goggles spared her from serious injury. She credited new snow on the trail underneath the lift with a soft landing; the resort said it got 20 to 22 inches in Monday’s storm.
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20101228/NEWS02/712299977