First of all, it’s important to emphasise that the lower Excalibur gondola, where the accident took place, is not connected to the newly-opened Peak 2 Peak gondola.

Excalibur links the base areas of Whistler’s two mountains, while the Peak 2 Peak gondola spans a 2.7 mile gap between them, near their summits.

What’s more, a lot of money has been spent on trying to make the Peak 2 Peak safe. Back in November, for example, the British Columbia Safety Authority conducted a safety check with each one of the 28 gondolas loaded with 2250kg of concrete. Every part of the system has been provided with back-up too, such as the power supply, bearings, and motors.

The air space beneath the gondola is now restricted too, and the lift is fitted with an Obstacle Collision Avoidance System to warn off aircraft.

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But all the same, the accident is worrying. In a statement released last night, Whistler stated that the Excalibur gondola, which was built in 1994, has had an "extensive" safety check within the last six months. Which raises questions about the thoroughness of these checks.

This isn’t the first lift accident in the resort, either. On December 23 1995, four chairs on the Quicksilver chairlift came off their cable, and killed two of their passengers.

The timing of the incident is a also disaster for the resort. In February 2010 it will host many events in the next Winter Olympics, and it’s going to have to work hard now to convince the world its lifts are safe.

And the vast PR effort that’s gone into the launch of the $52 million CAD Peak 2 Peak gondola will have to be put on hold. You can’t brag about your latest lift if one of your older ones has just broken.

Sean Newsom is editor and founder of ski website, www.welove2ski.com