Editing Whistler Blackcomb (section)

== Incidents ==

===Quicksilver Express grip failure, December 23, 1995===
The lift operator on the Quicksilver lift pressed the button to make a routine stop, to allow a fallen skier to get out of the way of the unloading ramp. Instead, the emergency brake activated, sending shockwaves down the cable. Grips on at least two of the chairs slipped, and caused chairs to slide down the cable and slam into each other. In all, eight were injured, and two were killed, in one of the worst ski lift accidents in North America.<ref>{{cite news | first=Larry | last=Pyn | title=Minimizing the risks on B.C.'s ski lifts | date=February 9, 2008 | publisher=[[CanWest Global Communications|Canwest Interactive]] | url=http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=60e7f2b3-fad4-4b5e-ab6d-85b4248c69f6&k=68164&p=2 | work=Vancouver Sun | location=Canada | access-date=February 29, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417203949/http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=60e7f2b3-fad4-4b5e-ab6d-85b4248c69f6&k=68164&p=2 | archive-date=April 17, 2008 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref> The lift's manufacturer, [[Lift Engineering|Lift Engineering/Yan]], entered bankruptcy after the incident in July 1996.<ref>{{cite news | first=Alex | last=Markels | title=The Rise, Fall and Return of a Ski-Lift Entrepreneur | date=January 16, 1997 | publisher=[[Dow Jones & Company]] | url =http://www.coloradoskihistory.com/chairlift/yan1.html |work=The Wall Street Journal | access-date =February 29, 2008 }}</ref> The cause was found to be a design fault in the Yan detachable grip. The Quicksilver lift was removed and replaced by the first Creekside Gondola. The other two Yan high-speed quads on Whistler, Greenline and Redline, were replaced with Doppelmayr high-speed quads the year after that, with all-new terminals, grips and chairs, and renamed as the Emerald Express and Big Red Express respectively.

===Excalibur Gondola collapse, December 16, 2008===
The Excalibur gondola had a major malfunction on December 16, 2008, when the upper portion of one of the lift towers detached and [[collapse (structural)|collapsed]], causing several of the gondola cabins to drop near to the ground,<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7786967.stm| title=Gondola tower snaps at ski resort| publisher=BBC News channel| date=December 17, 2008| access-date=December 17, 2008}}</ref> leaving 53<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/media/news/season_2008-09/081216.htm |title=Excalibur Gondola Update |access-date=December 17, 2008 |date=December 17, 2008 |publisher=[[Whistler-Blackcomb]] |archive-date=July 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718041617/http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/media/news/season_2008-09/081216.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> people trapped on the lower section of the lift line. Firefighters rescued passengers from a cabin dangling over Fitzsimmons Creek, and from another gondola that landed on a bus shelter. The third cabin had crashed into the trees, narrowly missing a condominium. Twelve people suffered minor injuries.<ref>{{cite news | first=Lori | last=Culbert | author2=Mary Frances Hill | author3=Jennifer Miller | title=Twelve injured, rescue complete after Whistler gondola accident | date=December 16, 2008 | publisher=Pacific Newspaper Group | url=http://www.financialpost.com/most_popular/story.html?id=1083212 | work=Vancouver Sun | location=Canada | access-date=December 17, 2008 | archive-date=August 15, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815105102/http://www.financialpost.com/most_popular/story.html?id=1083212 | url-status=dead }}</ref> 

===Whistler T-Bars summer maintenance incident, August 31, 2009===
On August 31, 2009, two lift maintenance employees were injured when the lift began to move, after being given the go-ahead while a maintenance person was safety-harnessed to the tower. The person remained attached to both the tower and the maintenance carrier while the second employee was secured to the carrier. The safety harness ended up pulling so hard on the maintenance carrier that the carrier became detached from the cable and dropped to the rocky ground below, severely injuring the worker in it. The employee hanging from the tower only received bruises.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/pique/index.php?cat=C_News&content=Tbar+accident+1636 |title=Whistler, CANADA |publisher=Pique newsmagazine |access-date=March 10, 2011}}</ref>