Mount Sima chairlift broke down in Whitehorse

The chairlift at Whitehorse's Mount Sima ski hill broke down at about 12:30 p.m. local time.

The lift was being used for several Arctic Winter Games events such as snowboarding and downhill skiing.

Hill employees took about 45 minutes to repair the lift.

Parker Hickey, the hill's general manager, said a loose wire was the reason for the stop. He said that no one was stuck on the lift when it broke, and that it did not interfere with any events.

"The snowboarding slope style event finished about 15 minutes ahead of time and the alpine event was running a bit late, its running a little bit later now, but theyll be able to finish it today no problem," he said.

This is the first winter the new chairlift is being used after it was replaced last summer.

"I would say any new machine, especially a one-offkind of machine like a chairlift can have little bugs and sometimes those have to be worked out," he said.