29 replies to this topic

[vons]

wind seems to be an issue this week on the weather channal they reported a record 200mph gust back east I forget where it was but it did som damage to a visitor center on the mountain the gust was recorded at.

[coskibum]

what type of gondola is this...ie the mfgr?

[Zage]

It's a 2001 Poma Omega system. I agree that this is shocking, but 211 km/h winds no wonder the cabins were knocked off, that's probably the fastest winds ever recorded in that valley. Sunshine Village is in an odd location, everything gets trapped in the valley wind, weather ect.. and judging by the picture those cabins were knocked off just after Curve Station and that's probably were the wind coming out of the valley meet's the wind that is comming into the valley.

This post has been edited by Zage: 26 January 2006 - 11:33 AM

[Peter]

Looks like it's fixed...

"SUNSHINE VILLAGE IS REOPENING TOMORROW! Thanks to over 30cms of new snow in the last 4 days and even more at higher elevations it looks like you are going to have to make it a three day weekend! All lifts are running and there are over 100 runs to ski and ride on. Come out and see why people are talking about Sunshine having the best conditions in the Canadian Rockies. "

[WBSKI]

Weve got crazy winds right now...69 km/h Gusts

Cypress:
PLEASE NOTE: EAGLE CHAIR IS CURRENTLY ON STANDBY DUE TO HIGH WINDS AND MAY RE-OPEN IF WEATHER PERMITS. EASY RIDER IS CURRENTLY IN OPERATION. SKY CHAIR, MIDWAY AND SUNRISE CHAIRS ARE CLOSED FOR THE DAY DUE TO HIGH WINDS.

I bet Grouse Red Skyride at least will be closing soon

[arialropewaymillwright]

First off let me just start by saying I have nothing against Sunshine. I actually love Sunshine Village. However I am of the opinion that North America in general is not only due for a major lift accident the fact that a young lift maint helper died at sunshine a short while ago should only re-inforce how serious operating and maintaining these machines are:
Here's a cut and paste from an email I received regarding these two Cabins ending up on the ground at Sunshine. (If your anything like me you would have been thoroughly skeptical about the claims of high winds causing the accident.)

Quote

The wind was only 60 km or so.
Lift Mechanics had previously extended the trumpet rail, and in the welding process had deflected it away from the haul rope, increasing the likelyhood of the guide roller landing either above or below the guide rail on a windy day, which is exactly what happened.
The first cabin causes two faults: 1. rope location fault, (from a violent removal of grip from rope, since the gondola is not level in the station) which resets itself, because the switch was merely grazed. 2. zone fault, because the cabin got hung in the unmanned curve station. The wise Lift mechanics find out what the fault is, and thinking that since they have had zone fault problems in the past and that must be what this is (and under pressure to get the lift turning, no doubt) overrides the fault remotely via computer, which you can do on this Leitner-Poma installation.
Second chair collides with first chair, presto. your picture comes to pass.

Attached File(s)

•  SunshineGondola.jpg (54.7K)
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[edmontonguy]

When i rode this lift not more than a month before this incident, there looked to be an operators booth at the midstation. So is that booth actually just for housing controls, or is there capability to put a lift operator at the midstation? For what it cost Sunshine to shut down for the time needed to repair the lift, would it be cost effective to employ an operator to be stationed at the midstation to avoid future problems? Perhaps if a similar situation were to occur, will sunshine now have a lift mechanic travel to the midstation before starting the lift again? Also i think it's lucky that this story really ever made headlines, becuase Sunshine would have had a PR nightmare on their hands if it made the mainstream media.

[catskier75]

Hey,

I found this thread through google - I live locally and was trying to find out more about the sunshine accident as it sounded serious but barely even featured in the lcoal media. I find arialropewaymillwright's comments quite interesting, but I've been skiing sunshine for years and there's always been an operator in the booth that edmontonguy describes at the turn station (that said, I haven't been up there since christmas so I guess there might not have been when the cabins came off the line).

But his point about saftey is interesting - didnt sunshine also have a loaded chair fall off one of their lifts a couple of years ago?

And when/how did this lift helper get killed? That certainly never made it to the media - these things might not be good for PR but the secretive nature of the resorts with regard to saftey matters is concerning.

[steveT]

Also live nearby, and the resort is shut again today cos of some gondi maintenance. The message on the website says:

"! Sunshine Village is closed Monday, Feb 27th for routine maintenance on its gondola. One of the greatest snow seasons in two decades has reached its midpoint and the peak months of March, April and May will offer fantastic skiing and boarding to our visitors. Fresh powder has been bombarding the resort since Saturday night. See you Tuesday the 28th for awesome conditions. " http://www.skibanff.com/

Interesting reading, wander whats going on up there. Lake Louise must be pleased at all the extra visits these shutdowns must be causing them.

[Peter]

This is why they want to put in chairlifts as an alternate mode of transportation.