Ski Lift Accidents in 2024/25

[ChrisC]

Great article by Peak Rankings documenting the numerous lift accidents this year.

Also, the accident with Kicking Horse's gondola this past week essentially closes the resort for the year. Given RCR's numerous accidents with Mont St Anne's Gondola, I doubt they will make necessary repairs given management history. It serves Kicking Horse right for not building a redundant way to the summit.

Are Ski Lift Accidents on the Rise? A Look at This Year’s Catastrophic Failures — PeakRankings

While lift accidents have historically been rare and isolated events, this season has seen several incidents make national headlines. And these failures haven’t been restricted to just one lift type, one company, or even one country.

www.peakrankings.com

 

[Skieric]

It certainly seems to me that many chairs are being kept a long time and the high speed lifts have many more moving parts and likely more metal fatigue than the older fixed grips. At my local Altera owned blue mtn, they did a refurbishment of a lift 2 years ago. Kept the poles, and terminal buildings and replaced all the major moving parts and carriers on one lift. I am surprised this kind of update isnt done more often.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Also, the accident with Kicking Horse's gondola this past week essentially closes the resort for the year. Given RCR's numerous accidents with Mont St Anne's Gondola, I doubt they will make necessary repairs given management history. It serves Kicking Horse right for not building a redundant way to the summit.

As of today KH will run the Stairway to Heaven chair for those willing to ski tour from the top of the Pioneer chair.

 

[ChrisC]

As of today KH will run the Stairway to Heaven chair for those willing to ski tour from the top of the Pioneer chair.

They are charging $75 CAD for very little lapable terrain, and you have a 1k vert ft hike to the top. What a joke! Just close and refund, but it's RCR which is worse than Vail. And the lower slopes are not great.

Again, they have had 20+ years to build some condos to pay for another lift for a redundant route to the summit.

 

[Tony Crocker]

a redundant route to the summit.

At the time KH opened it was obvious that the gondola should have had a mid-station. In fact, I think KH was supposed to open in 2000-01, which was a very low snow year in western Canada, and couldn't because the lower terrain was not covered.

 

[Skieric]

Great article by Peak Rankings documenting the numerous lift accidents this year.

Also, the accident with Kicking Horse's gondola this past week essentially closes the resort for the year. Given RCR's numerous accidents with Mont St Anne's Gondola, I doubt they will make necessary repairs given management history. It serves Kicking Horse right for not building a redundant way to the summit.

Are Ski Lift Accidents on the Rise? A Look at This Year’s Catastrophic Failures — PeakRankings

While lift accidents have historically been rare and isolated events, this season has seen several incidents make national headlines. And these failures haven’t been restricted to just one lift type, one company, or even one country.

www.peakrankings.com

I dont understand whats going on at RCR. They seem unable to maintain their skis lifts. The provincial regulator has closed 4 lifts at Mont St Anne due to maintenance issues. I think this is functionally the majority of the mountain. https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/mont-sainte-anne-opening-postponed-after-ski-lift-closure/

 

[Skieric]

Update on KH gondola failure last spring. https://www.technicalsafetybc.ca/te...atZ8wTi3nfdl02gX1o_aem_hsgFaaLyQKv7ZgxLCTEu3Q
The investigation found that the cause of the incident was an unidentified crack that developed from conditions introduced through the manufacturing process, coupled with short duration, high-magnitude forces that occurred during operation. Contributing factors include:

1. The selected material and manufacturing process resulted in low material toughness and brittleness; properties that were conducive to a crack initiating in the arm.

1. Station setup allowed for impacts between the hanger arm and station structure.

1. Major impacts to the hanger arm during operation very likely triggered the progression of the crack.

1. The inspection regime intended to identify and respond to cracks before failure did not identify the crack prior to it reaching a critical size.