There’s plenty of snow in Québec but those wishing to ski Mont-Sainte-Anne this weekend will need to do so under their own power. The province issued an order Friday night prohibiting the major ski area near Québec City from operating any of its four detachable lifts, citing recent electrical problems and deficiencies discovered in a recent inspection. Québec’s ropeway regulator issued a similar order in December 2022 following a series of high-profile incidents. In February 2020, the mountain’s gondola suffered an abrupt stop, injuring more than a dozen passengers. A less serious incident occurred a month later, which combined with Covid, closed the gondola for more than a year. In December 2022 a cabin fell from the same gondola, a mishap later blamed on human error. The Québec building authority ordered five lifts shut down, causing the entire ski area to temporarily cease operations in the middle of winter.
This time Québec ordered three detachable quads and the gondola closed, effectively shuttering the resort. Inoperable lifts include a 1986 Doppelmayr quad, a 1987 Doppelmayr quad, a 2013 Doppelmayr quad and a 1989 Doppelmayr gondola. Mont-Sainte-Anne has yet to open this season, citing damage from a November 28th power outage. Repairs had been completed and the resort was set to reopen Saturday until the order came down at 6:09 pm Friday evening. “The Régie du Bâtiment du Québec (RBQ) has ordered the closure of the aerial ski lifts at the Mont-Sainte-Anne ski resort,” the province said in a press release. “This order, served today on the operator, follows inspections carried out on Wednesday, December 10, in connection with a failure on the 25,000-volt high-voltage network that powers the buildings, ski lifts, and snowmaking system…The results of the inspection showed that the break affecting an underground section of the electrical network prevented the normal and safe operation of the equipment covered by the order, which constitutes a danger to the safety and physical integrity of people,” said the release. “Furthermore, the seriousness of the shortcomings observed in recent years creates an emergency situation that requires the RBQ to intervene without delay in order to prevent irreparable harm to the public.” The order noted Mont-Sainte-Anne and owner Resorts of the Canadian Rockies were notified not to operate lifts more than a week ago on December 5th. It also alleged the mountain has suffered recurring electrical problems for more than 10 years that are believed have contributed to the gondola incidents in 2020.
“As a reminder, ski resort operators are primarily responsible for the safety of their customers,” said Stéphane Petit, Vice President of Inspection at the RBQ. “Our priority remains public safety. The resumption of activities will depend on the pace at which Mont-Sainte-Anne complies with the requirements of the order.” Proposed remedies include testing of service and emergency brake systems, demonstration of functioning communications systems and a written evacuation plan in the event of a power failure. “We wish to clarify that we will fully comply with this order and that we will cooperate in all the upcoming steps, which will begin early next week,” the mountain said to customers. “While we are naturally disappointed not to be able to launch our winter season, snowmaking continues actively on the north and south facing slopes.” The mountain plans to open its conveyor lifts, restaurants and retail shop this weekend and welcomed the public to ski tour with purchase of an uphill ticket. It also invited season passholders to go cross country skiing or visit nearby Stoneham, also operated by RCR.
This is the latest setback in a long saga for one of Québec’s largest resorts. Mont-Sainte-Anne operates on public land via a long-term lease and many have called for the province to revoke its agreement with Resorts of the Canadian Rockies due to incidents and lack of investment. However last December the province opted instead to inject CA$50 million into the resort in partnership with RCR. Nearly a year later, the deal still has not been signed.
Lift Blog 
Do you think we are trying to tell the local skiers of Mount Sainte Anne about their behaviour? Why should we invest 50,000,000 taxpayer dollars into this attitude
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do you think in 2017 when resort managemeant has a police officer asualt a senior citizen sitting upright on a bench enjoying the sun twenty feet from his condo door that his God is taking revenage on this resort until Maxine is dissmissed and the police officer is retired in the artic. I will be watching the show from Vietnam, spring sking in japan. until this is fixed their will be no more of my tax money going to this pompous resort
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No one is missing you, trust.
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They did this in 2017; I thought it was a new thing during Covid.
Why was he assaulted?
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Hopefully they can rectify the issues in time to reopen for the season.
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Sounds like total incompliance once again. Sounds like braking systems and other major safety issues exist. Unbelievable to have 4 lifts fail a compliance inspection 2 days before planned opening. I applaud the authority having jurisdiction for standing firm on public safety.
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I’d love to know the actual problems here. I know they had an issue with power distribution, but can’t see that relating to other required checks on the lifts. Also calling up past issues to disallow operation is novel. Unfortunately I can’t read the order that’s issued in French.
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The issue basically states the same as the article Peter released :
Motifs de l’ordonnance (notice)
“Les résultats de l’inspection ont permis de constater que le bris touchant une section souterraine du réseau électrique empêchait le fonctionnement normal et sécuritaire des équipements visés par l’ordonnance, ce qui constitue un danger pour la sécurité et l’intégrité physique des personnes.
De plus, la gravité des manquements observés au cours des dernières années crée une situation d’urgence qui oblige la RBQ à intervenir sans délai en vue d’éviter qu’un préjudice irréparable soit causé au public.
La RBQ tient à préciser que, dès le 5 décembre, elle a transmis par courriel aux représentants de la station Mont-Sainte-Anne une interdiction d’utiliser les équipements visés ci-dessus.’
The first paragraph resumes a break in the underground power line that prevents the regular function of the equipment that was ordered to shut off (the lifts I think along with a few facilities and snowmaking?) due to potential danger to both the operators and the clients.
The second one says that the gravity of the lacks of maintenance in the last few years created an urgent situation that forced RBQ to intervene without delay to prevent irreparable prejudice to the public.
The last one says that the representatives of MSA were alerted on the 5th of December of an interdiction to operate the concerned equipment.
I hope this clarifies a bit the motive of RBQ, honestly, I am disappointed in RCR about the operation of MSA compared to Stoneham or the western resorts, that don’t seem nearly as neglected.
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I definitely think there’s more to the story that’s not included in the order. It mentions inspections on the 10th, but only a deficiency on the distribution side. It also mentions that the resort operator was told to not operate the lifts on the 5th, but doesn’t say by who, why, or how to remedy that situation.
If anything, I’d say this is a case study in how reputation can go a long way in dealing with outside agencies. And once there’s some reason to get further scrutiny, you’re probably going to be getting it for quite a while. For better or worse.
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What a horror, an order in French.
What’s next? They are going to sing Gens Du Pays in French, too? Where is general Kitchener when the aglaises need one.
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Ok, we get it, you’re from Québec and trying to roast blog members? Learning French is possible, but difficult because of l’accord and la conjugation of words. Let’s keep this discussion to lifts only, ok?
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I can say with certainty that the RBQ has no legitimate technical reason to suspend operations at MSA. During an inspection last week, RBQ inspectors witnessed the operation of the Gondola and Express du Nord lifts, including testing of all safety systems and operation of evac drives. Testing was completed without issue and in full compliance with all aspect of CSA Z98 and Québec regulations. This order is a political move in response to public pressure stemming from the one-sided reporting by Le Journal de Quebec. It is important to understand that the political environment in Quebec and the in-fighting within the government over the proposed investment plan at MSA..
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Yet another typical RCR gong show. RCR should really replace alot of lifts at their resorts like the 3 Stone Age Detachables aka the Gondola, North Express, and the South Express. The Silver and maybe Olympic Express chairs at Nakiska. Elk, Boomerang, Deer, and White Pass Fixed Grip chairs at Fernie. Catamount and Pioneer at Kicking Horse. And maybe a secondary front side lift at Kimberley considering that Northstar Express had 2 major breakdowns in the gearbox failure and the hut fire
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If I was RCR, here is what lifts I would do.
MSA : Express du sud, Express du nord, Tortue et Étoile filante
Stoneham: Tempête express and maybe Aurore boréale (but not priority)
Nakiska: Silver and Bronze
KH: Pioneer, CPR connector lift, Super Bowl lift, Rudy’s Bowl lift… (honestly, there are too many)
Fernie: Deer, Elk, Currie Bowl infill lift
Kimberley: Front side helper lift, Tamarack and Easter
But the reality is that there are too many lifts to replace, and RCR does not seem to have the capital or will do over half the lifts I mentioned.
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RCR’s model is cut costs, cheap tickets and high volume at Nakiska, overall revenue maximization year by year without it seems much of a view to the long term. Not surprising with Murray Edwards …..
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Here is the RBQ report : https://www.rbq.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/medias/pdf/communiques/2025-12-12-ordonnance-msa.pdf
According to the conditions that need to be filled by RCR to reopen the lifts, the problems are :
Service and emergency breaks ;
Evacuation process in a total power outage ;
The lack of a communication line on the Express du Nord (their actual wireless system is not filling the RBQ standarts).
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Express du Nord has a com line.
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I’m going to say something that a lot of us in Western Canada kind of know and feel and that RCR is a very problematical company. Mt. St. Anne is one set of issues, but so is Kicking Horse with the gondi hangers and many gondi break downs. Fernie and Nakiska’s lifts break down a lot and are mostly really really aging. You know how there are some airlines you avoid flying because you feel safety is not taken as seriously, for me and others it is the same with RCR. The chance of anything happening to me individually is very very low, but I and many I know feel more comfortable at Revi, Silver Star, Sun Peaks, Louise, Sunshine or others. Forgive me if this goes against site rules but it is a truth for many of us in the Canadian Rockies.
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