Bromont’s Lift 5 Re-Opens Tomorrow Following Fire

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A new operator house arrives from Utah. Photo credit: Ski Bromont

The Versant du Lac detachable quad at Bromont, Quebec will carry skiers tomorrow morning for the first time since Feb 3rd.  That’s when a fast-moving fire started in the bottom operator house and spread to the return terminal before being put out by firefighters with help from Bromont’s snowmakers.  The operator building housed a snowmaking compressor and lighting equipment, which may have led to the fire.  For the past three weeks, the resort has been working with Doppelmayr to get the lift back in service as quickly as possible despite the lack of snow in Quebec.  If there’s a silver lining, that bad weather was the reason no guests were riding Lift 5 the night of the fire.

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Bromont teams load testing Versant du Lac Thursday, Feb. 25th.  Photo credit: Ski Bromont

Doppelmayr fabricated and painted a new operator house in Salt Lake City which arrived in Quebec on Feb. 19th, just two weeks after the fire.  The lift was load tested on Thursday and while terminal damage is still visible, some burned out windows at the return won’t prevent operation for the final month of the season.  Presumably, Doppelmayr will return this summer and replace the remaining fire-damaged components.  The exact cause of the blaze is still under investigation but in the meantime, congratulations to Bromont crews for getting this key lift back up and running in 24 days.

https://twitter.com/Ski_Bromont/status/703372670310727680

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Temporary repairs as seen on Saturday, February 22nd.  Photo credit: Zoneski.com

Ski Bromont Lift Heavily Damaged in Overnight Fire

Photo credit: Bromont Fire Department
Photo credit: Bromont Fire Department

The return station of a detachable quad burned last night at Ski Bromont in Quebec.  The 2003 Doppelmayr CTEC lift is called Versant du Lac or Lift 5.  More pictures of it can be found here.  This is the third such terminal fire in Eastern Canada in as many years.  The drive terminals of high speed quads at Mont Tremblant and Marble Mountain burned in 2014 and were subsequently repaired.  The good news for Bromont is the Uni-G terminal model is still in production so it shouldn’t be too hard to get a new one this spring.  Doppelmayr’s St. Jerome factory is less than two hours away.

Photo credit: CBC News
Photo credit: CBC News

https://twitter.com/mjohnst2/status/695067146490109956

https://twitter.com/Ski_Bromont/status/695071624958210048