Ziplines.
Ziplines are soaring in popularity, but crashes raise concerns about safety
Crashes are raising concerns about safety.
Delayed by rain, Lisa Cowles waited nearly all day to ride the zipline at Game Creek resort on the back side of Vail Mountain two summers ago.
A resort guide showed Cowles how, if she started going too slow, she could tuck herself in a ball to avoid stalling out on the longest and slowest ride on the zipline course.
Then, after connecting her to the trolley that rides down the steel cable, the guide asked Cowles if she wanted a push off the tower to get her momentum going on the half-mile stretch.
Yes, she did — and away she went. But as Cowles began gliding down the zipline, she accelerated at an uncomfortable pace. A guide on the tower below her jumped up and down, waving his arms. Moments later, Cowles crashed into the tower, according to a lawsuit she recently filed in U.S. District Court in Denver against the ride’s contractor and Vail Resorts.
When she suffered a concussion, a traumatic brain injury and knee fractures on the ride, Cowles became one of thousands of thrill-seekers nationwide who likewise have been urged to trust the safety of ziplines only to learn of their vulnerabilities.
The American Journal of Emergency Medicine reported after a 2015 study that the number of emergency room visits for zipline injuries in the U.S. went from a few hundred in 1997 to more than 3,600 in 2012. A total of 16,850 people were injured during that 15-year period, the report said. About 12% of those injuries included fractures or required hospitalization.
There have been fatal zipline crashes in the U.S., including two in Utah, one in Delaware and two in Hawaii, between 2011 and 2016, according to Cowles’ lawsuit. In May 2016, Lisa Lambe, 55, of South Carolina was killed while ziplining at Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah when a tree snapped off and fell in her path while she was traveling between 30 mph and 60 mph down a zipline, according to news media reports.
Colorado began regulating ziplines in 2013 through the Division of Oil & Public Safety’s office of Amusement Device Safety Programs. In the past seven years, the agency has received 13 reports of injuries on ziplines and issued fines totaling $13,000, said Scott Narreau, program manager. In most instances, zipline brake equipment malfunctioned or patrons failed to use brakes and people slammed into towers, Narreau said. A few investigations are pending, he said.
“We’re investigating some injuries that could have been prevented,” he said.
In some cases, private groups are operating ziplines without a state permit, be
lieving they are exempted from stringent state rules requiring professionals to design the structures, Narreau said. Exemptions are generally reserved for noncommercial operations.
In one of those instances, Jodi Slagel of Illinois suffered broken bones when she fell to the ground at the end of a zipline connected to a tree at Golden Bell Camp & Conference Center in Divide.
She subsequently sued Golden Bell and Cross Bearing Adventures, which claimed to have an exemption from state regulations.
“They don’t meet the requirements to receive a permit in the state,” said Narreau, who is investigating the circumstances surrounding Slagel’s injury.
Golden Bell wasn’t the only entity running ziplines without a Colorado permit, including some operations that are part of traveling amusement companies, Narreau said.
Safety and training
For the most part, Colorado’s more than 250 legal ziplines are safe and have not had any reported injuries, he said.
Zipline patrons across Colorado take about 360,000 zip rides annually, and Narreau said he receives only three to five complaints per year.
AVA Colorado Zipline, which operates several ziplines in Idaho Falls and Buena Vista, runs its thousands of zip runs each season with an abundance of safety, said Rebecca Dowd, a company spokeswoman.
Their zipline guides take three state training courses before they can work, Dowd said. The guides teach clients how to stop before they go on a ride, and they walk them through safety regulations, she said. The guides run the lines themselves before customers go, she said.
AVA began running ziplines in 2011, and the company has not had a single serious injury or death, Dowd said.
Ziplining has been getting more popular, she said. Vacationers like to come to Colorado to see beautiful scenery and experience mountain adventures instead of just going to an amusement park for a thrill ride.
In 2000, there were only 10 commercial ziplines in the U.S. By 2016, that number had grown to 400, according to Cowles’ lawsuit.
“One of our rides is a free-fall where clients literally leap off a wooden plank. Our ziplines in Idaho Springs are near old goldmining camps and were built with the backdrop of the Colorado Rockies,” Dowd said. “We’ve got a lot of features, including ziplines where clients can race. We have night runs where people wear headlamps.”
Sound of impact
But along with the quest to build ever larger, more exciting and elaborate zipline courses, there have been some serious injuries in Colorado, including those suffered by Cowles.
After she was injured on July 7, 2017, Cowles sued Bonsai Design, a Colorado company that builds ziplines, and Vail Resorts seeking more than $75,000 for medical costs, physical pain, disfigurement and mental anguish.
When Cowles went down the zipline, she found the bottom tower approaching at a much faster speed than described by a guide. She collided into the braking system, which “exploded.” She then slammed into the platform, her lawsuit said. Her husband heard the impact from a half mile above.
Cowles suffered a patellar fracture, a sprained right ankle and left big toe, and multiple bruises and cuts to her legs and face. She also suffered a concussion and traumatic brain injury, the lawsuit said.
Zipline designers like Bonsai have built ever-larger courses. On its website, Bonsai advertises its longer and faster rides with the most “technologically advanced braking systems in the world” to prevent guests from crashing into towers.
Bonsai built the zipline course for Vail Resorts that opened in July 2016 to generate revenue during offseason months, Cowles’ lawsuit said.
It featured ziplines propelling guests at speeds of 50 mph to 60 mph and up to 300 feet above the ground, it said. Bonsai also built zipline courses for Vail Resorts at Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Snowbasin Resort in Utah and Jackson Hole, Wyo., it said.
“The explosive growth of the commercial zipline industry has occurred in the absence of consistent or coordinated regulatory oversight,” Cowles’ lawsuit said.
The larger-scale ziplines including Game Creek have hazards and risks associated with tall, high speed and extremely long ziplines, the lawsuit said.
Vail Resorts officials declined to comment about Cowles’ injuries because of pending litigation.
Painful descent
Narreau said Colorado is always looking for ways to improve safety as it reviews injury accidents. As a result, several changes already have been made to state regulations, and more are in the planning stages — including how to better define which private organizations qualify for permit exemptions.
Slagel was injured during a zipline ride on June 29, 2018, run by Cross Bearing Adventures, according to her lawsuit filed in May in federal court in Denver.
Although operators had claimed their zipline qualified for an exemption of Colorado’s regulations, it marketed its course to the general public and therefore legally needed a permit, Slagel’s lawsuit said.
The final platform of the zipline course was a small wooden structure attached to a tree 12 feet above the ground. An extension ladder leaning against the tree was how patrons descended the platform, the lawsuit said.
When Slagel reached the platform, her trolley detached and she fell to the ground, suffering broken bones and requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical treatment, her lawsuit said. She continues to walk with pain and a limp, it said.
Slagel is now seeking compensatory damages for pain, permanent injury and mental anguish.