There are so many fun things to do on a ski trip. Aside from the best thing (the actual skiing of course!), there’s the scenic drive to the mountains, drinking hot chocolate in the lodge, and, my favorite, the ski lift! It’s so much fun how it just scoops people up and slowly but surely brings excited skiers to the top of the hill. It’s a nice ride and it’s so pretty to look down and around. Add in a sunset and it’s gorgeous.
As with anything that’s exciting, there’s a level of danger. Ski lifts are meant to be taken seriously and horsing around or not sitting down properly can have some dangerous—and scary—repercussions.
In North Vancouver, Canada, on Grouse Mountain, a boy and his dad found themselves in quite the scary predicament. It was a normal ride in the chair lift up the hill that suddenly took a turn for the worse. At just above 20 feet, suspended in the air, a boy is seen dangling from the chair lift holding on for dear life. His father is desperately holding on to his son, trying to lift him up and keep him from falling down. It’s unclear how the boy became loose and on the edge, but it was his panicked screams and cries for help that drew a group of quick-thinking teenagers to the rescue.
Gabriel, Sam, Ethan, James, and Joshua, all 13 and 14 years old, showed up to the scene and worked together to come up with a makeshift solution. They banded together to use a nearby netted fence as a dropping pad. James says, “So, I pointed to the net up there, and I said you go grab the net and me and Josh will go and run and get this padding.”
They told the boy to take off his skis, and just trust the process. Within moments, the boy complies and plops into the padded netting—safe and sound! Everyone immediately starts to cheer. The boy was taken to the hospital just to make sure he wasn’t injured, and the group of teens is being hailed as heroes! About helping the boy, James says, “It was all just natural. It was an instinct.” The teens were given complimentary season’s passes for their commendable actions.
Click below to watch the scary footage of the boy hanging and the teens making one epic rescue!
