Have You Seen This? Skiers, snowboarders set up makeshift net to save boy dangling from chairlift

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THE SKI LIFT — We love to ski in Utah. I mean, we do have the “Greatest Snow on Earth.”

Other places, like British Columbia, have some good snow, too. And like in Utah, BC's ski resorts are packed with skiers looking for a thrilling and fun day on the slopes.

But for one 8-year-old boy last week, the fun dramatically turned into terror.

In a video taken by a fellow skier at Grouse Mountain in Vancouver, a boy can be seen dangling from a chairlift. The boy had slipped and his dad was holding on to him, according to CNN.

A group of young people noticed the boy dangling and decide to help.

James MacDonald, 14, was skiing and snowboarding with his friends when he saw the boy dangling. The teen told CNN he didn't think the boy would be able to hold on much longer.

"He was starting to flail about and get extremely panicked," MacDonald said.

There’s nowhere to go but down for the boy, and there’s no time for the skiers and snowboarders below to lose, so MacDonald and the group quickly look for something to help soften the landing.

The group finds their aid: an out-of-bounds fence.

Quickly, the young group grabs the fence and spreads it out. Two in the group rip some padding off a pole and place it on top of the fence. One of the skiers below tells the boy to use his feet to take off the skis, according to CNN. The boy is able to take them off and is ready.

Finally, the father lets go of his son and the boy lands on the fence. The group celebrates as the boy is safe and unharmed. Hooray!

The resort’s patrol attended to the boy, and he was later taken to a hospital for precautionary reasons. But the boy was found to have no injuries, a spokesman for Grouse Mountain told CNN.

Shoutout to MacDonald and everyone who participated in helping the boy and his family turn a scary moment into a moment of quick-thinking heroics. I think the woman recording the video says it best:

"Wow! They're heroes."


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Xoel Cardenas is the Breaking News Editor at KSL.com. Xoel has been a journalist for nearly a decade and his resume includes the Deseret News, Fox Deportes, Yahoo! Sports, The Telegraph (London), SB Nation and Bleacher Report.

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