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Harmony chair has been closed the last few days, and now we know why ! I did heard a rumor about this a few days ago, but wasn’t sure if it was true or not. Another ‘accident’ has occurred here at Whistler.
A chair has fallen off the haul rope on the Harmony chair on Whistler. It happened after hours, most likely around the time ski patrol were doing their final upload before sweep. From what I heard, a bolt came loose from a sheave (wheels) assembly on one of the towers and then somehow a single chair detached from the rope and fell to the ground. Really hard to believe it could happen.
The disturbing news, is that apparently the chair didn’t even stop. No one knew it had happened. The lift kept running a fair distance before being stopped for the night. It was only realized when a grooming cat driver reported over the radio they had found a chair on the ground. The actual ‘gap’ in the chairs – was a number of towers away from the chair on the ground.
It’s all happening folks !
Just in case you are still thinking about coming here …… 
That
for a 7 night stay at the Westin I mentioned a few days ago has dropped in price down to US$300. 7 nights – 4 people at a 4 star hotel right at the base of Whistler mountain.
Update: I had to write something positive for this posts – so here it is – It’s Snowing !!!! The forecast is calling for snow off and on over the next few days – lets hope it is right this time…..
Update: I have read the Whistler Blackcomb Media Statement regarding this incident and would like to correct a few things. Basically the chair fell off during some night time maintenance, and that a fault indicator HAD stopped the chair. If this happened with public riding, the chair would have stayed stopped while they investigated the situation. It sounds like – since they were working, they ‘re-set’ that fault and continued to do their current job. I guess their intention was to go an ‘investigate’ what caused the fault later (but I also guess they didn’t since it was groomer who found the fallen chair).
It sounds like the fault which caused the lift to stop, is responsible for causing the fault which resulted in the chair falling off. What they don’t make clear (to me anyway), is whether the chair fell off before the lift stopped, or after it was restarted (I guess they probably don’t know the answer themselves).
Anyway, I ride these lifts everyday, and will continue to do so. I believe the people employed to run and fix these lifts do the best job possible. Why ? Because I know that they (and their families) ride these lifts themselves during their days off. Good enough incentive for anyone to do the job right.
Has there been an official press release yet? I heard it occurred during maintenance at night, and the reason it didn’t stop is because they were running it on ‘over-ride’.
I haven’t heard or seen anything ‘official’ so far.
I heard that maintenance had to be called to the scene and that it was a groomer driver who found the chair on the ground, informing lift maintenance about it. I doubt it happened during maintenance work (or if it did, they were unaware it had happened).
I also heard that none of the ‘safety features’ to do with the chairlift were activated. So even without any ‘over-riding’ there was no reason for the chair to stop.
I heard all this from someone who would/should know the truth. I didn’t mention it on Thursday, since – to be honest – I found it hard to believe.
What is over-riding the chairlift?
Sounds like they need to do some better maintenance on their lifts. I was stuck for two and a half hours on Symphony at the end of the day a couple weeks ago. They didn’t even come down to tell anyone what the story was. Finally they came down and said they’d be evacuating the lift, but ultimately got it running. Apparently the problem was that once it broke down, the backup motor was also broken! It was getting dark when they got everyone off the lift, and it was exremely low visability. Luckily I knew where I was going, but I have a feeling some people probably skied to the bottom of symphony, not knowing how to get out. There was absolutely no ski patrol direction whatsoever. Really shocking actually. It was probably the worst run down I’ve had in recent memory, dangerous actually. I had been going pretty hard for 5 hrs or so, then stiffened up beyond belief sitting on that chair in sub freezing temps and wind for that long.
Peter, We meant when maintenance crews (of anything) can ‘over-ride’ the safety mechanisms in order to run something. Basically it is a procedure that allows a machine to run, with minimal to no supervision. Handy for a small crew to work around a specific area – they can look out for their own safety. Safety features are in place for the public.
Chris, firstly sorry to hear you got stuck for so long on a chair – thats sucks – especially Symphony – long traverse from nowhere.
I believe I know the day you mean, and they ended up evacuating on the diesel motor (neither of the electrical options worked). Runs really slowly.
I wasn’t aware of the ski out conditions – bad to hear there was no one guarding the line of ‘no return’. It is not ‘natural’ to ski out of Symphony towards Harmony, and its handy that you knew the way.
It seems to me, that Symphony and the Whsitler Village Gondola are the two most ‘shut down’ prone lifts – but with the ‘incidents’ on Excalibur and Harmony this year, you have got to wonder at least a little bit.
I understand I am risking injury by skiing, but not riding the lifts…
It’s all starting to look like Fortress wanted to build the Peak2Peak Gondola and avoid major maintenance needed on virtually all the lifts and gondolas on whistler so they could flip it before the Olympics. The economy obviously changed those plans and now the true colors of corpo douche bags shows in their complete detachment from the industry let alone the lifestyle. I hope Fortress falls flat on their faces and WB gets bought by a f&cking skier or boarder at least.
With season passes costing almost $2K now and sketchy broken lifts, a hairy gondola to nowhere, and no love in sight; Whistler just ain’t as cool as it used to be.
Boo Fortresss!
Boo Intrawest!
I don’t agree with anything you said. I appreciate your comment though, as no doubt there are quite a few people thinking like you.
I know people who work in various departments of WB, and can not agree with a statement claiming ‘Intrawest/Fortress are penny counters, and that is to blame for the current conditions’.
I blame a world market made by rich people to make themselves richer (for the credit crisis).
It has been a really bad public relations year for WB – they obviously hoped the new Peak 2 Peak was going to make this an awesome year. I am actually a (converted) fan of the P2P and use it a lot.
Unfortunately it has been bad weather season – less snow and a lot colder than normal. This business is totally weather dependant.
So combine that with 2 lift ‘problems’ and you have got a bunch of broke depressed people all looking for someone to blame. (and the ‘funny’ name guy is in British Columbia at least)
I wouldn’t mind it if Intrawest was bought by a more skier minded person / corporation, but at the same time, I don’t think they are doing a bad job.
$2000 (or $1600 if bought early season) for around 200 days of skiing. 10 bucks a day – I don’t know how that compares to other resorts, but I can live with $10. I ski 100+ of those, so I suppose it is more like $20 per day. I am still happy with that price.
Greg- Thanks for clearing that up. I thought it meant running the chair on a faster speed than normal or something…
As for hairy lift rides, I caught the last chair up Glacier before they shut it down in a storm last year. The chairs were swinging like crazy, and every wind gust made the lift seem to slow down…it was scary. As soon as me and my brother got off, they stopped the lift for the day.
Last weeks picture in the local papers of our mayor proudly standing with the Russian vice president in Creekside, in front of the medal podium which has varnish peeling, metalwork strapped with gaffer tape and crumbling concrete steps, (all only a few years old) was embarrassing to say the least.
In the underground carpark at creekside there have been bare cables hanging from a missing light fitting for 3 seasons. I have twice physically taken intrawest maintenance folk who have been working in the parkade there and shown them it, once at Christmas this year and once last year or the year before.
Still not fixed (or made safe)!!
Press releases and photo ops seem far higher in Intrawest’s priorities than basic maintenance. It really is a shame.
Colin, interesting about the light fitting – something like that should be taken care of. Especially since once someone has been shown a defect/unsafe object, they have a ‘duty of care’ to do something about it.
You have a photo and /or a good description of where it is for me ?
Took some pics this morning, and emailed them to you..
i was there when the chair fell, and then the lift stopped for 1 and 1/2 hours. everyone on it got a free $10 gift card. it was creepy.
Seeing as how the chair fell off during the night, while no one (public) was on the mountain – I think you must be referring to when Symphony chair broke down.