New ski move spotted at Vail: "The Pants-less Hangman"

Leave it to those merry pranksters at the Smoking Gun to spot this moment of utter embarrassment and hilarity at Vail Mountain resort last Friday. It turns out a skier attempted to ride the high-speed lift at Vail's Blue Sky Basin, but when the seat didn't fold down all the...

By Joel Warner

January 6, 2009

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Leave it to those merry pranksters at the Smoking Gun to spot this moment of utter embarrassment and hilarity at Vail Mountain resort last Friday. It turns out a skier attempted to ride the high-speed lift at Vail's Blue Sky Basin, but when the seat didn't fold down all the way he somehow slipped through the crack and was left dangling upside down for 15 minutes, his ski lodged in the chair. Oh, and for some reason his pants fell down. Awkward!

Poor fellow. Hopefully he can at least take comfort in the fact that now he can take Vail to court and, ahem, sue the pants off them. -- Joel Warner

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Joel Warner is a former staff writer for Westword and International Business Times. He's also written for WIRED, Men's Journal, Men's Health, Bloomberg Businessweek, Popular Science, Slate, Grantland and many other publications. He's co-author of the 2014 book The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny, published by Simon & Schuster.

Contact: Joel Warner