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Top 10 News Stories  

#10 Crystal Mountain chairlift crash

It seems like just yesterday we were ringing in 2014 and now, we're just days away from saying goodbye.

2014 was an intriguing year in the Okanagan and all of the events, the highs and the lows were chronicled here on Castanet.

The Castanet news team has poured over the thousands of stories we brought you in 2014 and have compiled what we believe are the top 10 stories of the year.

Through to Dec. 31, we'll take a look back at these stories that helped shape our valley, the good and the bad.

Our number 10 story of 2014, Crystal Mountain Chaos

Less than a year after a chairlift collapsed injuring four people, Crystal Mountain has still not rectified their safety issues and remains closed. 

On March 1, 2014 a cable from the chairlift reportedly came loose from the lift, sending two chairs careening into a tower before crashing to the ground. Four people were injured in the accident.

Three of those injured worked at the mountain, including two members of the ski patrol and one ski instructor. The fourth person injured was a 45-year-old who was taking lessons.

One ski patroller suffered some broken ribs, a broken clavicle and damage to the vertebrae in her back. 

Her husband, the other ski patrol member, sustained bruising on his lower limbs but no broken bones.

The 16-year-old ski instructor broke his arm in the fall, and his student sustained broken ribs.

Another 15 people were on the lift at the time of the incident, however no other significant injuries were reported.

Castanet learned in September the hill would not be opening for the 2014 ski season. The mountain posted the following message on their Facebook page:

"Thank you all for patiently waiting for an update from us. I'm sad to announce that the mountain will not be in operation for the upcoming 2014-2015 winter season. But this is not a goodbye, we plan to be open for the 2015-2016 season. Season pass holders will receive their refund as promised. For questions, please message our Facebook page."

The BC Safety Authority had given instructions to the operators of the resort in July, stipulating what they had to do to obtain an operating licence. No repairs had been completed at that time.

The BC Safety Authority suspended the ski hill's licence following the chairlift incident.

"Back in July we issued a number of instructions to Crystal Mountain in terms of regulated work that would need to be done on their three passenger ski lifts in order for us to be confident they would be safe for public use. Then we would issue their operating licence," said Quinn Newcombe with the BC Safety Authority.

"To our knowledge the work has not been completed so their operating licence remains suspended at this time."

Newcombe says the work is technical, but it is work that would have to be performed on all three lifts so the authority could be 'confident' they are safe for public use.

"The reason we outlined those instructions back in July was to give them adequate time to get that work done if they did indeed plan on having another season."



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