Chairlift shut down at Silver

A chairlift tower at Silver Mountain Resort sustained “major structural damage” overnight Wednesday, resort officials confirmed.

The damage to a Chair 5 lift tower just below Kellogg Peak was discovered Thursday before the mountain opened, said Stephen Lane, marketing director for the Silver Valley resort.

All of the other chairlifts, including the gondola, were inspected before skiers and snowboarders hit the slopes Thursday, and were found to be safe, Lane said.

“We’ve also scheduled immediate third-party chairlift inspections,” Lane said.

Lane said the damage to the ski lift, which accesses the bunny hill and intermediate runs, looked like “a broken water pipe,” indicating that water may have gotten inside the tower and froze. The exact cause will not be known until an investigation is complete.

The lift, which operates daily, was inspected in October by Willis, the resort’s insurance company.

No problems were reported, Lane said.

There are no routine state or federal safety inspections of ski lifts at Idaho resorts located on private land, including Silver Mountain.

In Washington, all ski areas are inspected twice yearly by engineers hired by the state Parks and Recreation Commission, regardless of location.

In 2005 the resort was accused by a former employee of skimping on maintenance procedures and safety inspections of the resort’s gondola cabins.

An independent engineer from Spokane hired by the resort to investigate the claims found no major problems, The Spokesman-Review has previously reported.

The 3-mile-long tramway, which opened in 1990, has operated since with a clean safety record and no shutdowns.

Chair 5 will be shut down until the tower can be replaced, said Lane, who didn’t know how long that would take.

All other lifts and the gondola are open.