SUGAR MOUNTAIN, N.C. — A teenager who was stranded on a shut-down ski lift was faced with an “unbelievable decision” to stay where he was or jump and seek help, his attorney said Wednesday.
The teen's parents on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against Sugar Mountain Ski Resort seeking compensation for the incident on Feb. 14, 2016.
The teen was riding a ski lift and was unable to get down after it shut down for the evening, according to the suit.
He went up one of the lifts at Sugar Mountain Resort toward the end of the day, but at the last moment decided not to get off the chair. As the lift took him back down the mountainside, it stopped.
The court documents said the temperature had fallen into the teens and the boy was nearly 30 feet in the air.
"In an effort to survive, (he) took off his snowboard, crawled over the edge of the chair, grasped a bar below the chair, hung on and then let go, falling over 30 feet to the frozen ground below," according to the lawsuit.
The fall fractured the teen's right heel and right wrist and knocked him unconscious.
"He finally got to the point where he was afraid what could happen if he stayed there any longer, to the point that he was willing to take the drop," said John Cloninger, an attorney representing the teen's family. "He was faced with almost an unbelievable decision. What do you do?"
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When he regained consciousness, he crawled 200 yards out of the heavily wooded area by a service road to the Gunther's Way ski run, according to the lawsuit.
He then crawled an additional 300 yards down the ski run to the Terrain Park area, which had reopened for night skiing.
Resort officials said they first saw the lawsuit Tuesday after Channel 9 contacted them for comment.
They acknowledged that they were aware of the incident and have taken measures to make sure it never happens again.
"Safety is very important," owner Gunther Jochl said. "We have safety meetings on a daily basis with our patrol and our lift attendants, and everyone that's involved in the ski operations."
Eyewitness News was unsuccessful in attempts to reach the teen's family. WTVC, the ABC-affiliated station in Chattanooga, reached a family member on Wednesday who did not immediately comment.
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