Teens’ Quick Thinking Helps Boy Falling From Ski Lift

One of both the coolest and most terrifying things I saw on YouTube this week, the rescue of this 8-year-old kid, who was dangling from a ski lift in Canada, by a group of home-schooled 13- and 14-year olds.

In the beginning of the video, you can see the kid's dad hanging on to him for dear life, because despite the cries for help, the lift operator couldn't hear the pleas, and kept moving the lift upwards.

If you look carefully, you'll see dad is not only hanging on to his son, but trying to keep an even smaller child from falling off, too! (Hard to watch as a parent!) Down below, the video, taken by onlooker Carolina Prada Akoglu, shows a smattering of activity from fellow skiers, kind of in disbelief as they look up and see the child's situation.

And then something awesome happens....(click here for story) instead of whipping out cell-phones, or running off, a group of five teens spring into action. They're communicating and problem solving and working together to rescue this fellow boy. They grab some plastic fencing and some padding, get the kid to kick off his skis, and ultimately set up a safe space for him to land. Then, they convince him to let go...and he does...falling safely into the contraption the teens have set up to help buffer his landing.

Now, the first news report I saw on this didn't mention they were home-schoolers. But based on their behavior, and my experience as a homeschooling mom, I had my suspicions. In many a homeschooling group get-together, I've witnessed first-hand, this kind of spontaneous, independent problem solving. So very cool that it was put to great use in such a crucial way this time.

The resort that this all took place at, The Grouse Mountain Ski Resort in Vancouver, Canada, is looking into the incident, and called the teens heroes for their quick thinking. Folks in charge at the resort are giving them season passes to honor them.