MovieChat Forums > Frozen (2010) Discussion > could this really happen at a real life ...

could this really happen at a real life ski resort??

posted 8 years ago by OrdinaryDay
8 replies | jump to latest

I KNOW it is "just a movie" so it is made for the purposes of entertainment, not education. having said that, how realistic is the premise?

I find it incredibly hard to believe that any real ski resort would be so lax about checking whether people will still on the ski lifts before they shut down for the night. I thought every ski resort would have some sort of procedure where they manually check the ski lifts to ensure no one is still on one, or tie a ribbon on the ski lift BEHIND the last people on the ski lift in front of them so until the one with that ribbon returns they don't shut down.

further, when they were closing up for the night some staff member would have surely noticed their car parked in the car park and still there and checked as to why some guests had not checked out.

further, I find it ridiculous that ANY ski resort would have wild wolves near its premises. it poses too much of a risk of customers getting attacked and lawsuits. I cant believe that ANY ski resort would do that.

I know it is just a movie, but is it remotely plausible? I have read a story online about one lady who was stuck on a ski lift for several hours, which is nowhere near as bad as this.

so, believable premise or pure fiction?

Definition of troll on IMDb - anyone who expresses a view different to mine.

[–] IAmInCrystalLake 8 years ago

It happened for real soon after the film was released. The stranded man was found after burning his money which someone spotted. Check out Good Bad Flicks on YouTube for an in-depth look at the film posted just today.

[–] americanadian25 8 years ago

Whoa! That really happened? Figured most ski resorts would have some safety procedures in place to prevent something like that. Scary stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWdIBuuFQ9s

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 5 years ago

In the real life case of Dominik Podolsky, he got on the lift going downwards, which they apparently don't permit for that particular lift.

So, like this movie, some unexpected but not unbelievable human error contributed to the occurrence.

Really, the only big problem with this film (to me) is the "razor cable" problem.

I found at least one YouTube video of a guy shimmying along ski lift cable with bare hands and in shorts (it was the summer), so it's probably factually inaccurate to claim those cables will cut up your hands (despite what the filmmakers claim in the DVD commentary and documentary).

More importantly, though, whether factually accurate or not, it's not believable given how many of us have actually ridden these lifts and seen those cables up close.

Most of us have never fired a gun with a silencer, so we accept that "pyoot" sound effect. Not true of ski lift cables.

Problem is, I have no idea what plot device they could've come up with to keep the characters off those cables. Clearly, SOMETHING kept Dominik Podolsky from trying it himself, but that incident happened after this film was in the can.

[–] freemanpatrick7 8 years ago

Perfect storm scenarios (ie, everything that could possibly go wrong does) do happen. In Whittier, CA 2016 a bus school driver returned his bus at the end of the day, parked it and locked it. Without checking to make sure it was empty. The bus sat in the parking lot in record heat while an autistic kid sat in the back slowly dying. No one checked the bus until his parents called the school wondering where their son was. Why didn't he break a window? Why didn't he yell or scream until someone heard him? We'll never know now.

Warlock: What, like you're a big fan of the Fett?
McLane: No, I was always more of a Star Wars guy.

[–] Airjordan2288 8 years ago

My brother works at a ski resort. He said for the last run they put a flourescent flag on the chair then run the cycle one last time and wait for that flagged chair to come back or the person at the top of the lift waits for the flagged chair. If no riders are on they are good to go

" Tell me mom...when your little girl's on the slab...where will it tickle you?"

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 6 years ago

They used the flag in this movie

Then the bottom guy let them get on AFTER the flag was on its way up

The bottom guy should've let the top guy know he let them on, but then he might have to answer embarrassing questions about WHY he let them on (because they bribed him)

Then the bottom guy left his station to someone else (to go argue with his boss), telling the replacement to look for "the last three coming down"

When the replacement saw three (different) people come down, he immediately shut down the lift because he had to pee

Pretty much a perfect storm of believable errors

[–] Tabbycat (878) 5 years ago

Exactly.

Unfortunately what happens is all too plausible, especially after the three really push their luck insisting on one last ride after it had been shut down. That opens the door to disaster if the right conditions are met, and they are (operator switched, three unexpected skiers mistaken for last riders, “weather coming in.”)

Sometimes it’s easier than that. In 2006 a family made a wrong turn in the snow and ended up lost and stranded in Washington for days. The father died trying to walk to get help.

[–] funkychicken (613) 6 years ago

It wouldn't be possible at the two different places where I ran lifts. At both of them the top operator rides the lift down at the end of operation, anybody still on the lift would be seen. If the top operator is allowed to ski down, or rides a snowmobile or snowcat I suppose it could happen?

We did not use a flag at either of the places I worked.