Mont Sainte Anne Closed Indefinitely

Tony Crocker

Administrator
Staff member
Mont Sainte Anne is one of the eastern areas I track for percent of terrain open, and usually it's one of the better ones, particularly in late season. This year started so badly in the East that I didn't think much of its 3% until about a week ago. And when the website said closed I assumed it was due to rain. But now it's Jan. 1 and I did a Google search, revealing the following story:

I would think Patrick would be all over this story, but I have not heard from him about it. However Patrick had a broken rib accident (not skiing) December 9 which appears to be comparable to the one I had in April 2008. He has been e-mailing me to compare notes with 2008.
 
I had read about this shortly after it happened, but as it has little effect on FTO visitors in general never thought about posting it here. 3 significant incidents in relatively short order at one resort is certainly concerning. I think I read somewhere that the clamp mis-attached to the cable, the lift stopped with that error message and the training was so poor that they simply reset the lift and turned it back on. So instead of doing a due diligence and fix before restarting they simply said, who cares the error message cleared so get it back on, we have staff coming up the lift! Not sure if that was knowledgeable speculation or fully verified though.

If true, that would indicate both poor lift operators/training AND poor maintenance that the mechanicals don't work very well for very long. If you are a 3rd party engineering group brought in by RCR do you really want to attach your name to a report saying everything is now OK and they should be allowed to re-open?? With that history? I speculate they may actually be better off selling - financially at least.

Can the province force RCR to sell to Le Massif?
I doubt they can literally, legally do so, but can probably effectively make it happen with tons of 'oversight' rules and other onerous items.

Is there a recent precedent for this? A state or province closing an entire modern ski resort?
Not that I'm aware of for general lift issues for more than either single lifts, or very short time frames (eg shut for a day or two from a pop inspection finding issues and usually smaller places). I could give examples in Colorado for both those scenarios from the past 15-20 years. Of course Covid being the elephant that shut all skiing, despite that that is now clearly one item that should have been encouraged vs shut (just indoor stuff should have been shut way back when).
 
as it has little effect on FTO visitors in general never thought about posting it here
I can't believe it's been a dozen years since my last time at MSA, but it's easily a Top Ten northeastern area so I'd appreciate you sharing anything you run across. Selling it to the Le Massif group seems like a comparatively easy fix.
 
If true, that would indicate both poor lift operators/training AND poor maintenance that the mechanicals don't work very well for very long. If you are a 3rd party engineering group brought in by RCR do you really want to attach your name to a report saying everything is now OK and they should be allowed to re-open??
Tony gave me heads up on the topic. The first major problem with the gondola was in February 20, 2020 where a few people were injured. It was a pretty major incident that closed the gondola until the Sunday March 1. I was at MSA on Feb 29-Mar 1 for a set of races and was among the first on the gondola as it opened at 7am for coaches. Talk about crash test dummies.

They shut it down again prior to the Covid shutdown. I know the gondola has been shutdown for long periods since 2020. I know they had difficulties identifying the problem at one point.



I was busy skiing (with 3 freshly broken ribs) with our ski team at Sunday River when I heard about this latest incident. I know that Camp Fortune was suppose to have one of their camps there that weekend and turned around to go to Stoneham (also RCR) is a good trip when you staying at Ste-Anne. Not sure where they ended up staying as I didn’t see or ski anyone since I got back from SR.
 
Wow, I had no idea. Can the province force RCR to sell to Le Massif?

Actually this isn’t possible as I believe RCR doesn’t own the land. Pretty sure they might be a lease agreement on certains things RCR has to respect operational wise. Mont Ste-Anne (as most of Orford and Tremblant’s North side) is located in a Quebec National park. I know the Quebec government at one point owned MSA maybe 40-50 years ago.

As for the situation at Stoneham, the issues of negligence with RCR’s maintenance brought the Quebec government agency to do a more detailed inspections of their lifts in case the same issues existed: they didn’t and only small corrections were asked.
 
Excellent summary of the MSA history by Quebec City major paper. Important dates and relation between the different actors involved in this saga.

 
Excellent summary of the MSA history by Quebec City major paper.
Thanks. It's partially paywalled so here's the translation:


The Mont-Sainte-Anne Saga in 15 Dates

The fall of a gondola at Mont-Sainte-Anne recalls the complexity of the ownership agreement that prevails for the ski resort of Beaupré. Starting with the government of Quebec which, even if the mountain belongs to it, has no power over what happens on it. Saturday morning, before the opening of the alpine ski center, one of the red gondolas of the L'Étoile filante ski lift fell off the steel cable to crash several meters below. No passengers, no injuries. But this incident, which could have had tragic consequences, is another episode in the long and spectacular saga that has marked Mont-Sainte-Anne for decades.

Through its Society of Outdoor Establishments of Quebec (Sépaq), the Quebec government owns the mountain but it still remains at the mercy of the operator, the Alberta company Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR), for another 70 years. “Sépaq owns the the Mont-Sainte-Anne land, but has no right of inspection as to the management carried out by the operator of the mountain”. The Grand Dictionnaire Terminologique defines the subsoil as the “immovable property which is the basement; in other words, [the] ground below the surface”.

Following the privatization that occurred in 1994, “the duration of the agreement concerning the mountain land is 99 years and its scheduled expiry is 2093”. As for the land around the mountain, areas that include, among other things, the cross-country ski center and which are the subject of a second agreement also signed in 1994, Sépaq is currently trying before the court to recover its operating powers immediately. This second contract expires in 2029.

But for the alpine ski resort, the Legault government and its Minister of the Economy find themselves at an impasse. They must decide whether or not to invest $50 million in equipment upgrades, a condition imposed by RCR to put $50 million out of its own pocket. This kind of quagmire is nothing new for the station, which will soon have 80 years of history.

Fall 1943
A few skier friends explore and clear the area to establish a first real trail. The first competition will take place in the winter of 1946, with participants having to walk back up.

January 1966
Inauguration of the alpine ski resort, which already has 10 runs and four ski lifts, including the only gondola in Eastern Canada. The station belongs to the municipality of Beaupré.

February 1970
The City of Beaupré transfers the assets to the Government of Quebec, without compensation.

March 1985
The government created the Society of Outdoor Establishments of Quebec (Sépaq), among other things to manage Mont-Sainte-Anne (MSA).

June 1994
The Liberal government privatized the station. The group of buyers is made up of the American company Club Resorts, majority shareholder, as well as Développement Bromont, which already owns the Bromont ski resort. The announced amount of the sale is initially $20.3 million. Développement Bromont belongs to the Désourdy family, which is said to be close to the Liberal Party of Quebec. The Mont-Saint-Sauveur group and the Vancouver-based Intrawest, which already owns Mont-Tremblant, have also made offers. After coming to power in September 1994, the Parti Québécois asked independent experts to review the transaction. The firm concludes that the MSA was not sold at a high enough price, but that everything is legal and that we cannot conclude that there was partisan influence. The committee says the net price paid for the ski resort is actually $9.3 million.

Fall 1998
Club Resorts, the sole owner after buying out the shares of the Désourdy family, talks about a $500 million investment project for the MSA. Intrawest is again showing interest in buying the station, as is businessman Charles Sirois. The Société Générale de Financement (SGF) would also be in the picture. The same Charles Sirois who will found the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) with François Legault, a dozen years later.

Summer 1999
The Alberta company Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR), then owned by Charles Locke, bought Club Resorts for an undisclosed price. We would be talking about $20 million. RCR has already owned the Stoneham station, also in the Quebec region, since 1998.

March 2001
After refusing an offer to purchase from the co-owners of the Château Mont-Sainte-Anne hotel, RCR places itself under the protection of the Creditors Arrangement Act.

July 2001
Murray Edwards, who made his fortune in the oil sands of Alberta, comes to bail out Charles Locke and RCR. Mr. Edwards will take control of RCR two years later. He is also one of the owners of the Calgary Flames in the NHL.

April 2008
Agreement between RCR and Sépaq on the interpretation of a clause in the sales contract relating to the market valuation of the land in the MSA park. The case had been going on for four years. RCR talks about new private investment projects of $150 million.

February 2020
On February 21, a sudden stoppage of the gondolas injured many skiers. On March 11, a second similar incident forced the evacuation of the lift. A year later, a court will authorize a class action against the station in connection with these events.

March 2021
MSA in turn sued Hydro-Québec and five companies concerning these sudden stoppages of the gondolas.

November 2020
Birth of the non-profit organization Friends of Mont-Sainte-Anne.

Fall 2021
Creation of the Mont-Sainte-Anne Future movement.

December 10, 2022
Fall of a gondola before the opening of the station. Québec Building Management begins a general inspection of the facilities the following Monday.

December 13, 2022
Mont-Sainte-Anne Future believes that “it would be unjustifiable to give $50 million to a bad corporate citizen” and is once again calling for a change of operator.
 
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A few more info on the saga.

Plus when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
 
when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
:eusa-clap:
323255045_1131177807770334_5205555442758693142_nbddc8c77-d616-49f2-b949-f9b191a06eca_ORIGINAL.jpg
 
Breckinridge had a chair pop off ….open the next day. Guss if no one dies/massively injured....it's game on!




Love to see Breckenridge try to function without their Peak 8 SuperConnect lift.

1673042426869.png
 
Love to see Breckenridge try to function without their Peak 8 SuperConnect lift.
That would at least be physically possible, if very undesirable... Snowflake lift would have it's biggest days ever.


Breckinridge had a chair pop off ….open the next day.
I don't claim to know the extreme details, but the general gist was that Breck self-reported and had live discussions with the CO Tramway licensing board engineers by later that evening with specific and detailed explanations/analysis on the why and corrective action(s)... Unlike at St Anne/RCR. Probably also helps when talking to the license folks to have a long history of competent lift ops vs the opposite too.

Also St Anne is still in the 'indefinite' closure phase with insufficient explanations to the province on why/how, etc...
CBC article on St Anne still closed
 
Also St Anne is still in the 'indefinite' closure phase with insufficient explanations to the province on why/how, etc...
CBC article on St Anne still closed
News dropped yesterday: Ste-Anne go a green light to reopen their chairlifts. They are opening this Sunday morning. Gondola is still close with no clear indication of a reopening.

Falling chairs:
I heard about the Breckinridge. I haven’t read the details, so I can’t really comment.

Back in 1996, there was tragic event at Whistler which included serious injuries and death. There was government inquiry trying to figure what when wrong. That chairlift never ran again and was replaced by the Creekside gondola.
 
Back in 1996, there was tragic event at Whistler which included serious injuries and death. There was government inquiry trying to figure what when wrong. That chairlift never ran again and was replaced by the Creekside gondola.

After the Whistler incident, I believe every Yan Detachable Quad chairlift needed its chair grips replaced eventually bankrupting Yan as a company. Sun Valley said recently that its current goal is to replace every Yan HS Quad in the near term.

From Wikipedia:

Keystone, Colorado, accident (1985)
Potential problems with Yan lifts began to surface as early as 1985, when the upper bullwheel on the Teller lift at Keystone Ski Resort in Colorado disconnected from the main gearbox shaft. The lift was unique in its design as there was no support underneath the bullwheel. Lift Engineering had explained when the lift first opened the year before that a support beam underneath was not necessary. They claimed the pressure of the system along with the welds would keep the bullwheel in place.[11] Faulty welding would be blamed for the accident.[12] Two people were killed and 47 injured.[13] The Teller lift, and its twin lift, Santiago, were two triple chairlifts constructed in 1984 as part of Keystone's North Peak expansion. Teller was rebuilt by Yan and renamed the Ruby lift, free of charge. Santiago was replaced by a Doppelmayr high speed quad in 1998 and relocated to Big Sky, Montana, while Ruby was replaced by a Poma high speed six pack in 2000.[citation needed]
During the late 1980s, the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board began to question the safety of Yan's lifts. They learned that Kunczynski, in his drive to build affordable ski lifts, regularly sent steel parts to be welded together in ski area parking lots.[12] The Board alleged that Kunczynski's lifts were unsafe. The ski industry blasted the Board and continued to install Yan lifts.[citation needed]
Sierra Ski Ranch, (Currently Known As: Sierra-At-Tahoe) California, accident (1993)
On April 4, 1993, a 9-year old boy was killed and another child injured when loose bolts and a subsequent derailment caused two chairs to stack up on Sierra Ski Ranch’s Slingshot lift. The same lift had sent an empty chair to the ground two months prior when a grip failed. Lift Engineering settled a wrongful-death suit after the accident for $1.9 million. Sierra Ski Ranch’s marketing director would later state, “we found they just didn’t withstand the test of time” when the company committed $6 million to replace its three Yan detachables in 1996.[1]
Whistler, British Columbia, accident (1995)
Yan detachable lifts were subject to a series of accidents, most notably the Quicksilver lift at Whistler Mountain in British Columbia, Canada. The Quicksilver accident killed two and injured eight on December 23, 1995.[14] The accident occurred when the emergency stop was used repeatedly. A chair started sliding downhill and struck the next chair which got stuck on a tower. This continued several times before a total of four chairs fell.[15] The main problems with the Yan high-speed lifts were the chair grips.[citation needed] These were designed so that in order to stay connected to the cable, the chair had to be subject to gravity. The Yan grips, unlike most operating today, did not have high-tension coil springs, but rather rubber "marshmallow" springs that exerted much less force on the cable. The repeated emergency brake application was enough to shake the chairs free of the cable. The majority of government safety inspectors failed to detect these problems.[citation needed]
The Quicksilver chairlift, which served the Whistler Creekside base area, was replaced by the Creekside Gondola in 1997, built by Poma.[citation needed]
Aftermath
Following the accident at Whistler, and reports of grip-slipping at a plethora of other mountains, 15 resorts spent millions of dollars either upgrading, or completely replacing their combined 31 detachable quads in the United States and Canada.[1] June Mountain, the only mountain to use Yan's type 7 grips in a funitel was forced to shut down the QMC Funitel leaving sole access to the mountain to the J1 lift (A 1960 Riblet double Chair). Doppelmayr, the company that took majority of the replacement contracts was so stretched in resources that 75% of their replacement grips came from Austria instead of their North American manufacturing plant.
POL-X West developed a new version of the YAN-7 detachable grip, the one that was used on the majority of the high-speed lifts, replacing the marshmallow springs with high-tension springs. The redesign was ordered by a group of British Columbia and Alberta ski resorts that included Silver Star and Lake Louise. This grip also proved unsatisfactory and the lifts were removed from 2002–2004.
Many resorts suffered greatly from the economic burden of having to replace their workhorse lifts, such as Schweitzer which went bankrupt as a result, and Sun Valley who had 7 Yan High Speed Quads. In 2019, the second last Yan high speed quad La Roca, located at Espot Esqui in Spain, suffered a catastrophic failure leading to one of the chairs falling off the line. This chairlift had Type 7 grips and the original terminals with replaced chairs. As a result of this, the lift was shut down. On 6 December 2019, Espot opened their new La Roca high-speed quad, built by Leitner.[5] The last Yan lift remaining is in Iran and uses the POL-X West grips. There are still many fixed grip lifts around the U.S. and Canada that are made by Yan.
 
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