Ejected, Dragged, Hospitalized: Copper's "Mild" Colorado Coaster Ride Now Faces a State Safety Investigation

For nearly a decade, Copper Mountain's Rocky Mountain Coaster has been marketed as one of the ski resort's tamer summer attractions — a family-friendly alpine ride that lets guests control their own speed down a mountainside track. That reputation is now under scrutiny after a Texas woman was thrown from her cart, dragged along the track, and left with injuries her attorneys describe as life-altering.

Nicki Parker, 60, was riding the coaster with her husband on Monday, Aug. 17, when her cart came off the track on a curve near the bottom of the ride, according to her attorney, Trent Ongert of the Denver firm Bloch Ongert Injury Law. Parker's seatbelt was fastened throughout, Ongert has said, but she became entangled in it after being thrown from the cart and was pulled along the metal track as it continued moving.

Parker's husband, riding in the cart directly behind her, watched the incident unfold and went to help her once his own cart reached the bottom, according to reporting from KDVR. Parker was found lying on the elevated track roughly 15 to 20 feet off the ground, with no direct access point for rescuers to reach her.

Extent of the Injuries

According to a release from Bloch Ongert Injury Law, cited across multiple Colorado outlets, Parker suffered a traumatic brain injury, a separated shoulder, a broken rib that punctured and collapsed a lung, and multiple lacerations requiring stitches. She has undergone three surgeries so far — two related to the lung injury and one to repair her shoulder — and remained hospitalized more than a week after the incident, first at St. Anthony Summit Hospital in Frisco before being transferred to St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood.

Parker's attorneys have argued that the ride's own safety design supports her account. Signage on the coaster states that a cart will automatically stop and sound an alarm if a rider's seatbelt becomes unbuckled mid-ride; because Parker's cart did not stop after she was ejected, her legal team contends that confirms the belt remained fastened the entire time.

Resort and State Response

Copper Mountain confirmed the incident in a statement, saying its patrol team responded after being alerted and found the guest seated in her cart with her seatbelt fastened when they arrived. Patrol helped move her to the base area, where Summit Fire & EMS took over her care. The resort said the ride was shut down immediately afterward and that it is working with state regulators and the coaster's manufacturer to determine what caused the ejection, adding that its thoughts are with the guest.

The Colorado Division of Oil and Public Safety, whose Amusement Rides and Devices Program oversees rides like the coaster, confirmed it is investigating. A spokesperson for the division said the state has no record of a similar incident happening on the Rocky Mountain Coaster previously. As a precaution, a comparable coaster ride at Purgatory Resort near Durango has also been shut down pending the outcome of the investigation. The state has additionally directed the ride's manufacturer to issue a safety bulletin to all operators running similar coasters.

About the Ride

Opened in 2017, the Rocky Mountain Coaster sits near the base of Copper Mountain's American Flyer chairlift and is billed as the second-longest alpine coaster in North America. The track runs roughly 5,800 feet and drops about 430 vertical feet, incorporating tight curves, dips and at least one 360-degree turn. Riders can reach speeds of up to 25 mph and use a manual hand brake to control their own pace — a design feature common to gravity-based alpine coasters, which let each rider set their own speed rather than relying on a fixed, motor-driven course. Copper Mountain's website lists a minimum solo-rider age of 9, while children between 3 and 8 may ride as passengers if they meet a minimum height requirement.

A Recurring Question for an Expanding Ride Category

Alpine, or "mountain," coasters have proliferated at ski resorts across North America over the past two decades as operators look for warm-weather draws to offset a shortened winter season. Most operate on a similar model: individual carts fixed to a single steel track, propelled by gravity and slowed by a rider-operated brake, marketed explicitly as low-intensity, family-oriented attractions rather than thrill rides.

That positioning has occasionally collided with serious safety incidents elsewhere in the industry. A similar mountain coaster in Branson, Missouri, has been the subject of a separate federal lawsuit after two riders were ejected and suffered head injuries, spinal injuries and broken bones; an investigation into that incident cited inadequate operator training and lax seatbelt checks. It remains unclear whether the Copper Mountain investigation will point to comparable mechanical, procedural or track-design factors — the Division of Oil and Public Safety has not yet released findings, and the coaster's manufacturer has not publicly detailed what may have caused Parker's cart to leave the track.

For now, both the Copper Mountain and Purgatory rides remain closed, and Parker — according to her attorneys' most recent update — remains in the hospital continuing treatment for her injuries.