Skier Jumps Off Squaw Valley Chairlift into a Reservoir, Promptly Gets Banned

Needless to say, the skier was banned from the mountain indefinitely

As spring season skiing crept into late-May at Squaw Valley in Tahoe, a large reservoir of snowmelt formed under the Gold Coast Express chairlift. One young skier decided it was the perfect opportunity to experience a thrill on the mountain.



Instagram user Alex Kalange (@alex.kanage) posted two videos showing him unstrapping from his skis, taking off his boots and plunging from the chairlift into the frigid water below. Needless to say, the videos immediately went viral.

Here is the first video shot from the chairlift in front of him:




Then, another video was posted of the jump right next to him:

For the stunt, Kalange was suspended indefinitely from the mountain. It’s unclear how long the suspension will last, but it’s very clear that resort officials were not happy with the dangerous stunt.

“It is against the law to disembark a chairlift at any point that’s not the designated load or offload area,” Hepburn said in an email to the Sacramento Bee. “What many people don’t know is that just one person jumping off a chairlift affects the entire chairlift cable, seriously endangering the other riders. It can have catastrophic results and has the potential to damage the entire chairlift infrastructure.”



Kalange wrote in the post “Today was for you Shane!” an apparent shoutout to the late-Shane McConkey, a skiing pioneer and Squaw Valley legend.

Say what you will about the stunt, but Kalange was probably foolish for tagging Squaw Valley in the post. He may have gotten away with it otherwise.

Active NorCal

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