Skilifts.org / SORT Forum

aug, on Dec 17 2008, 12:18 PM, said:

Chatted with a few guys at work and certain towers will get partly filled with concrete (towers in an avalanche area). Also I can see the addition of concrete if a tower needs to be more structurally sturdy.

Wow that is a pretty catastrophic tower failure! As people have said...at least no one was hurt! I could see the holes at the bottom of the tower being instituted as a rule by states after this.

drain holes can fill w/rust flakes, debris. these holes may freeze closed while draining (the recent ice event in new england caused one lift that i know of where line sheaves iced up while turning).

there's no substitute for annual checks, see post #34.
bobp

How long would it take for that much water to seep into a tower? And where would it come from? Just snow melting on top of the towerhead? I'm no authority on towers, but this had to be building up for years

It seems like it would be pretty hard to not notice 20 feet of water, or over 4000 gallons by my estimation (that's roughly 15,000 liters), inside a tower. And like floridaskier said, that would take years to accumulate that volume unless there was a very large hole. But it's easy to see how the ice wedging occurred. 16 tons of ice can do a lot of damage.

It's scary what water can do.

Whistler at that elevation does get a lot of rain.

2milehi, on Dec 17 2008, 01:05 PM, said:

At Mt. Hood Meadows in 04 they poured concrete into some towers on the Vista lift, but that was mainly for snow creep issues I believe

Skier, on Dec 17 2008, 05:10 PM, said:

Plus its the west coast. We get way to much rain in BC.

Are you guys all checking your towers now?

bwilky, on Dec 17 2008, 06:42 PM, said:

This "water in the tower" issue has been well worn out in other threads on this forum. Folks have been checking towers for water for at least a year (this is not the first such mishap).
It is a fact that water can get in there - through leaks or normal aspiration of air through imperfect welds. It's hard to make something as large as a tower perfectly waterproof.
Yes - holes can be drilled at the bottom, but that can do as much harm as help. Mostly, it can lead to a false sense of security. The only way to be sure that a tower does not contain a hazardous amount of water is to check it out thoroughly and regularly.

Now let's all stop asking the same questions that have been covered some time ago in discussing a similar incident. Talk solves nothing.

Reading might help...

So what is the turn around time on getting a lift like this back up and running? I imagine that WB does not want to have the main access point to Blackcomb from the village down, and people to see the accident everyday, over the christmas holiday.

I am surprised there is no media or no news or no newspapers here in Utah. Yesterday, I saw the video on The Weather Channel, and I didn't catch the name where it is. Thank you for posting news in this website.

I looked the video and read the article. Whistle caused few lifts have problems. I can't believe what happened.

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/C...BritishColumbia
This post has been edited by Skiing#1: 18 December 2008 - 08:31 AM

dapole, on Dec 18 2008, 02:24 AM, said:

I doubt it will be up before the new year.

Seems like a relatively quick fix for doppelmayr, though. So long as the footing and tower head aren't damaged the midle just needs replacing - I guess its how fast they can ship one out...

Then again, they will probably have to take the cabins off the line to re-align the rope...
This post has been edited by brad82: 18 December 2008 - 10:19 AM

This post has been edited by lastchair_44: 18 December 2008 - 10:39 AM

brad82, on Dec 18 2008, 10:18 AM, said:

Wouldn't the footing need to be replaced if the whole thing was frozen? It could potentially be weakened.

The footing should be fine. All the cabins will be removed and the rope tested. They are currently deciding whether a new tower is needed or the old one can be repaired. I fully expect it to be open for Christmas.

Aussierob, on Dec 18 2008, 11:54 AM, said:

Are you going to be working on it? Some close up pictures would be awesome!

I won't be around but I'll see if I can get a photo or two. We will be repairing the existing tower.

Skiing#1, on Dec 18 2008, 08:18 AM, said:

The last place i want to get news from is the Weather channel, they can't even get the forcast right most of the time.lol

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/12/...dola/index.html