Brookvale alpine ski hill to remain closed Friday

Alpine skiing will remain closed at the Mark Arendz Provincial Ski Park at Brookvale on Friday.

The hill has been closed since Wednesday because of mechanical issues with the park's only chairlift. 

"We suspected that there were some issues on Monday, so we took some time to do some testing and confirm that we had some mechanical repairs to do," said Erin Curley, assistant superintendent at the park.

"At the moment, we believe it was an issue in our gearbox."

Curley said a technician from the lift's manufacturer is on-site working on the gearbox and getting replacement parts, and it's too soon to estimate the cost of the repairs.

The hill has not been open to the public since the issues were discovered, as it is closed Monday and Tuesday.

"There's never a good time for this to happen, but it is what it is with machinery," Curley said. "People are very understanding, mechanical breakdowns happen."

Park officials are hopeful they will have the repairs completed Friday and reopen Saturday, but said they are taking it day by day. 

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