An investigation has been launched into the safety of a ski-lift after a teenage girl died when she fell during a school trip to Italy.

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He worked odd jobs, as a cart boy at a golf course, a ski-lift operator and a janitor (he uses his janitor ID as his Twitter avatar).

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The chambermaids and ski-lift attendants are being priced out.

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The ski lift, an ancient T-bar surface tow, hadn't turned in 30 years.

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In Ecosign's early days, ski-resort design was fragmented lift architects handled lifts, parking engineers handled parking lots and so on.

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The quadrennial TV spectacle boosts awareness of the sport, which eventually translates into dollars for the firms that sell ski equipment and lift tickets and slope-side condominiums.

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In 1998, 19 people were killed when a low-flying US warplane cut the cable of a ski lift on the mountain.

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These are the worst times for ski travel, with inflated airfares, jacked-up rates for accommodations, overcrowded slopes and lift lines, and shortages of everything from rental gear to top flight instructors.

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But at the heart of this unpicturesque village 200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, with its trailer parks and mining-town architecture, burns the pioneering spirit of mountain adventure that far predates the cookie-cutter chalets and sophisticated lift systems that have come to define the modern mainstream ski holiday.

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