Three injured at Thredbo after ski lift detached by ‘freak’ winds

The Kosciuszko chairlift reopened on Sunday after three snowboarders fell from a chair at the Thredbo ski resort in gusty conditions on Saturday.

Two women in their 20s were treated for back injuries and a man in his 20s suffered facial injuries after one of the chairs reportedly detached from the ski lift about 2.20pm.

Two patients were transported via helicopter to Canberra Hospital and the other was taken to Cooma Health Service.

Thredbo resort issued a statement saying the incident was “caused by a freak gust of wind”.

“There were no major injuries caused, no other guests or chairs were affected. Thredbo is committed to the safety of our guests and our people,” resort said.

“The incident is being thoroughly investigated by SafeWork NSW and independent experts.”

The chairlift closed after the incident; however, the resort said it would resume operations on Sunday following independent engineering inspections.

“Thredbo assures guests that their safety is paramount and that we will continue to apply our high standards of safety and risk management,” the resort said in a statement.

It is the country’s longest chairlift – almost two kilometres – and is 33 years old. The four-seat lift was upgraded from two seats in 1990.

A wind gust of 65 km/h was recorded shortly before the incident at the weather station located near the chairlift top station.

This is not the first chairlift incident at Thredbo.

In 2019, a skier was bruised after a chair fell off the Gunbarrel Express Chairlift.

With Megan Gorrey

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