SAM Magazine—Claysburg, Pa., April 23, 2026—The parents of a 5-year-old boy who fell from a chairlift March 1 at Blue Knob All Season Resort were each arraigned this week on a felony charge of endangering the welfare of a child. The boy was riding the lift alone when he reportedly turned to adjust his goggles, slipped off the chair and fell 20 feet to the trail below. He did not sustain any major injuries. 

Reports said that staff told investigators he had ridden the lift, a triple chair that serves the ski area’s summit, by himself multiple times that day, and the boy’s father told the lift operator he was capable of riding the lift alone. They’d ridden together other times during the day. Separately, the father told investigators it was the first time the child had ridden the lift alone but then admitted to telling the lift operator that the boy OK to ride by himself.

The State Police affidavit said, “The lack of direct supervision of a five year old child led to this child falling 20 feet from a ski lift to snow-covered ground. Furthermore, it took approximately 15 minutes to locate the child’s parents, who were unaware of the incident at the time.” 

The boy was airlifted to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh as a precaution but was found to be relatively uninjured. The mother told news outlets that she credits the helmet he was wearing for saving her son’s life.

Blue Knob has not been named as liable. The ANSI B.77 standard does not include a minimum height requirement for a person to ride aerial chairlifts alone, nor are there state or federal requirements. However, some ski areas have their own minimum height requirements to ride an aerial lift alone, such as Sugar Bowl, Calif., where riders must be at least 55 inches tall to do so. Notably, Sugar Bowl has a comprehensive lift safety program.