1 March 2017 — Brouhaha involving Sugar Mountain NC; lawsuit claims a Tennessee youth was stranded on the Gunther’s Way chair after it shut down the night of February 14, 2016. Suit claims the young snowboarder was trying to get the attention of the liftie at the upper shack, but he didn’t noticed and the kid went around the bullwheel. As luck would have it the chair stopped with the youth in a wooded section, some 30 feet from the ground. With temps in the teens, the kid jumped to the ground, injuring his foot and knocking him unconscious. He allegedly came to, then crawled to a trail where some night skiers noticed him and called for help. Lawsuit claims the staff at Sugar was “dismissive” and ignored pleas to search the lift. Sugar Mountain owner Gunther Jochl sez “Personally, I have seen the young man in recent months and he appeared fine. We have attorneys and I guess it is all in the court now.” Curious case…And in another legal case, fallout from that fire at Boyne Highlands earlier this season, David Soltysiak, 31, of Petoskey MI sentenced to 20 years with a minimum of 13.25 yrs…photo above of skiers Martin Lentz and Drew Petersen at Alta UT, image snapped by Mike Schirf. They’re enjoying 10″ of new snow that has fallen since yesterday, and not involved in any legal issues that I’m aware of…Oregon resident Patrish Koenig got clobbered by another skier on February 12 in Vail’s Game Creek Bowl area, just below Chair 7, around 11:40 a.m. Eagle County Crime Stoppers is asking for the community’s help in identifying a possible suspect and assisting the Sheriff’s Office with its investigation. If you have any information about the hit and run skier involved, call the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office at (970) 328-8500 or Eagle County Crime Stoppers at (970) 328-7007. You can also submit your tip online at www.tipsubmit.com or you can text a tip from your cell phone by texting STOPCRIME plus your message to CRIMES (274637). Crimestoppers offering a $1500 reward for anyone providing info leading to an arrest. Seems to me the Vail Resorts properties lead the league in collisions, just sayin’.
Photo above courtesy Alta Resort