A snowboarder died in an incident that occurred at Red Lodge Mountain in Montana on Tuesday, March 11, after he fell from a three-person lift. According to local reports, he was unseated and fell during a period of gusty, erratic winds.
Jeffrey Zinne, 37, was riding the lift alone when he fell, sustaining accidental blunt-force injuries. He was helicoptered to a Billings, Mont., hospital. There, the Yellowstone coroner pronounced him dead early the following morning of March 12.
“Yesterday was an unfortunate day at Red Lodge Mountain as a guest was injured as the result of a chair lift incident,” Red Lodge Mountain said in a Facebook statement on the evening of March 11. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the guest and his friends and family, and all guests and employees impacted by this incident.”
Zinne was a devoted husband and father of a 2-year-old boy. A GoFundMe has been set up on behalf of his wife, Meghan. On the GoFundMe page, she wrote, “In lieu of more flowers I ask that you just take your most beloved and go for a drive to the mountains. Nye was always our favorite spot.”
Triple Chair was subsequently closed, and patrol evacuated 135 guests by ropes, mountain operators told local news station KTVQ. Red Lodge Mountain is currently investigating what happened. It said Triple Chair will remain closed until the resort can ensure “the continued safe operation of the lift.”
GearJunkie has contacted Red Lodge Mountain for comment and clarification on some of the details surrounding this accident. We have yet to hear back from the resort. It wasn’t immediately clear on Thursday if local authorities planned to investigate the incident.
High Winds on Barless Lift
The Triple Chair from which Zinne fell was built in 1983, Troy Hawks, Red Lodge Mountain’s director of marketing and sales, said in an interview with NBC Montana. The 42-year-old lift does not have a safety bar and carries skiers and riders approximately one mile up the hill.
Shortly before and after this incident occurred, the National Weather Service reported 50 mph gusts of wind. Due to the high winds, several other chairs at the resort were closed for operation.
“We place a top priority on the safety of all of our lifts and lift operations, and perform daily, weekly, monthly, and annual safety measures to better ensure the safe operation of our lifts,” Red Lodge Mountain wrote in a statement.
While the resort asserts an emphasis on lift safety, some Red Lodge Mountain guests wrote social media posts and comments telling a different story.
“As a longtime season pass holder, I have to disagree that lift safety is a top priority. Grizzly and Willow lifts were built in the late ’50s and early ‘60s, and we’ve seen multiple lift incidents in recent years that likely could have been avoided with proper investment in infrastructure,” Isaiah Broyles commented on the resort’s statement on Facebook. “We’re paying ski resort prices but getting mom-and-pop operations, and it’s frustrating.”
Broyles’ comment has over 200 likes.
Not This Season’s First Incident
Just recently, GearJunkie reported on a gondola failure at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in British Columbia. For still unspecified reasons, a gondola car detached and fell to the ground carrying eight passengers. No one was seriously harmed in that accident.
But even that wasn’t the first lift and gondola incident of the season. In February, at Attitash Mountain in New Hampshire, a quad lift carrying one skier detached from its cable. The man fell roughly 20 feet. He sustained serious lower back injuries and was rushed to the hospital.
Deaths involving ski lifts are quite rare, according to the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA). Between 1956 and 2024, 35 people died in accidents involving chairlifts and aerial ropeways. About half of those deaths were linked to mechanical failures, according to the NSAA.
While Triple Chair remains closed, Red Lodge Mountain is offering discounted lift tickets for guests due to the reduced terrain.
