Chairlift Rollback Sends Skiers Jumping at Chinese Ski Resort

Chairlift Rollback Sends Skiers Jumping For Safety at Chinese Ski Resort

Video posted to social media last week shows a chairlift at the Gongchangling Hot Spring and Ski Resort in Liaoyang, Liaoning province, running rapidly in reverse — the wrong direction — while staff shout at riders to jump clear. The lift was shut down immediately after the incident, and resort staff confirmed on Wednesday that no injuries were reported.

The footage is uncomfortable viewing. Chairs swinging backward down the line, staff yelling, riders dropping to the snow. It's the kind of thing most people assume can't happen at a modern ski resort, which is exactly why it's worth understanding how it does.

What Is a Chairlift Rollback?

A rollback is when a ski lift suddenly reverses direction instead of continuing uphill. Under normal operation, a combination of drive motors, gearboxes, brake systems, and anti-rollback devices keep a loaded chairlift moving in one direction. When one or more of those systems fail — a motor giving out, a gearbox malfunction, brakes not engaging as they should — gravity takes over.

A fully loaded chairlift is heavy. If the backup systems don't engage immediately, the chairs will start moving back down the line quickly. The speed can build faster than most people would expect.

Why Jumping Was the Right Call

It looks dramatic on video, but jumping from a slow-moving or stationary lift close to the snow is often the safer option compared to riding a runaway chairlift backward down a mountain. Staff shouting instructions and clearing the area below was the appropriate response, and from what's been reported, it worked — no injuries from an incident that could have gone significantly worse.

A Reminder About Lift Safety

Incidents like this are relatively rare, but they do happen — and not exclusively at smaller or newer resorts. Mechanical systems fail. The more relevant question is whether the safety systems designed to catch those failures do their job quickly enough.

In this case, the outcome was fortunate. Riders got off, the lift was stopped, and nobody ended up with anything worse than a fright. That's not always how these situations resolve.