Whitehorse's Mount Sima ski hill closed after chairlift malfunction that left 100 people in the air
CBC
The Mount Sima ski hill near Whitehorse will be closed for the remainder of the Christmas holidays after its chairlift stopped working on Sunday, stranding more than a hundred people in the air.
Tom Luxemburger, president of the Friends of Mount Sima Society, said there's "only a few specialized engineers in the world" who deal with high tension cables for chairlifts, and there's no exact timeline for repairs right now.
"The expert that we are going to be using, unfortunately he's in Switzerland right now. So we are co-ordinating with him in terms of what we can get in terms of consultation remotely," Luxemburger said.
Luxemburger said there's an "abrasion" on the main cable line that needs to be fixed. One of the main pieces that guide the chairs into a narrow passage to spin around something called a bullwheel became dislodged on Sunday, he said.
"So instead of guiding the chair back where it needed to be, the chair got jammed up," he said.
"Could I run it today? Yeah, you know what, I probably could, but I don't want to take that chance. We're going to make sure that the entire line, every component is going to be inspected," he said.
The lift suddenly stopped Sunday afternoon around 2:30 p.m. and passengers started to be rescued around 3:30 p.m.
Luxemburger praised the firefighters who responded to the incident, using ropes and safety harnesses to bring passengers to safety.
No one was seriously injured.
"I've had feedback from guests directly first hand just state, hey, this is a situation which could have been scary, but these guys really deescalated it and calmed it down and were swift and good communicators," Luxemburger said.
Thomas Vollmer said he waited for an hour before being rescued.
"I think we were the third chairlift to get rescued out of 135 [chairs]," Vollmer said.
Nathan Neunherz said he planned to warm up after coming off the lift with one thing.
"Hot chocolate," he said.
The City of Charlottetown is hoping to get more children cycling to school next year, and is looking for adult volunteers to lead the pack.
What Sierra Colvin wants this season is somewhere warm where she can stay with the people she trusts most — her community from the streets.
Jupiter James Timothy Chase-Evans is Windsor's first baby of the new year.
The federal government promised to "pilot a new automatic [tax] filing service" in 2024 to help get benefits to low- and fixed-income Canadians — but ended up recycling a program from the year before that saw little uptake.
The City of Thunder Bay issued a record-high number of building permits in 2024, paving the road for a busy year of construction as it works toward ambitious housing targets.
Canada's national child care advocacy association, Child Care Now, has welcomed a reduction in child-care fees in Ontario, while expressing concern that far too few families stand to benefit.
It's the first week of January and the word "detox" is probably trending again. It has, like clockwork, for the past five years. From juices and supplements to foot baths and diet regimens, detox products become more popular this time of year. But what do these treatments and programs actually do — and do you really need one?
The Prince Edward Island Crafts Council is expanding to a building next door to its current location to let artists learn from each other and inspire a new generation.
A Yellowknife man who spent decades in prison has now been granted day parole for six months.
Canada's top-paid CEOs made over 200 times more than the average worker in 2023, says a new report — yet the gap between executives and employees narrowed slightly that year, as workers' wages rose and corporate profits declined during the comedown from high inflation.
While New Year's Day is often home to a couple of rumbles and bangs, a rattling felt throughout central Newfoundland on Wednesday was not caused by a firework.