Agreed. I wonder if it is simply the economy of demand or if they are also gov't subsidized. It wouldn't surprise me if Austria and European alps countries subsidized ski lifts. They have ski lifts there like we have baseball fields and basketball courts here. On a summer motorcycle tour through the alps I was stunned at all the little towns along the way with lifts. Good luck in the US asking taxpayers to subsidize people sliding down a snowy hill.
Profitable resorts like Park City and Okemo, etc, can have high speed bubble chairs with heated seats because a lot of people go there. Sugarloaf is constantly riding the edge of sustainability because it is too far away from everywhere else. This makes it both horrible and awesome at the same time. (old lifts, low crowds, friendly atmosphere)
Ski lifts in Maine are regulated and overseen by the same government agency as elevators. Fat lot of good that did though... typical... government incompetence, yadda yadda yadda. However the industry and gov't is certainly more careful and aware since the Sugarloaf accident.
I don't think the car analogy is apt. More like a drawbridge or elevator I'd say.
I remember seeing you at Sugarloaf, I forgot it was at that time. I was too close to the Spillway accident, my mom was on one of the chairs that hit the ground. A crappy cell-phone pic I took of the scene was on the front page of the Portland Press Herald, and several were picked up by the AP. There were good samaritans all over the place. As a photographer myself I think it's important to document things like this. It's good that we have pics and video of the rollback in Georgia from multiple angles. Of course I wouldn't have chosen picture-taking over life-saving if that had been a choice.
Borvig parts are available through Partek Ski Lifts in NY.
There are engineering standards for safety factors of just about everything. Last I knew, the standard safety factor for suspending things in the air where human lives are at risk is 7. So if the maximum load a haul rope will ever see is 100 tons (w.a.g.) then it is built to fail at 700 tons.
AND??