Video shows skiers trying to save teen snowboarder as she falls from California chairlift
A 16-year-old snowboarder was hospitalized after she slipped out of her chairlift at Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort in California and fell several feet down onto the snow below, ABC7 reported.
Video footage from the incident, that occurred on the morning of Jan. 27, shows the teenager dangling from the chairlift as her fellow riders hold onto her and try to pull her back up while employees and other guests scramble to lay out a net below her to help soften the fall. The girl is then seen falling onto the ground below where a huge crowd is gathered around the net.
"Five Mammoth Mountain employees and eight guests immediately responded and positioned the deceleration net under the guest," Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort said in a statement to ABC7.
The resort said that when the girl slipped out of the grasp of her fellow riders and fell, "the net decelerated her fall, but did not stop it".
She was then taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
"Our thoughts are with the guest and her family," the resort said in their statement.
Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort and the Mammoth Police Department did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for information and an update on the girl's health.
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Located in California's Mammoth Lakes region, along the Highway 395 corridor in the Eastern Sierra, the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area is roughly 315 miles north of Los Angeles. Mammoth Mountain is California’s highest four-season resort at approximately 11,053 feet above sea level, according to the resort's website.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.