A 75-year-old woman died Thursday while attempting to download on the Solar Coaster chairlift.
A news release from the Whistler RCMP reports that at about 3:30 p.m. on Thursday the woman, a Canadian tourist from outside British Columbia, was trying to get on one of the chairs to get down the mountain. It's believed she was struck by an incoming chair as she looked back. She fell two feet from a raised platform on to a gravel rock landing that's used to support the platform.
Whistler Blackcomb staff and emergency services attended to the scene and attempted CPR on the woman before she was airlifted to the Whistler Health Care Centre.
Police were advised of the incident at about 5:12 p.m. They were notified a short time later by the coroner that the woman had succumbed to her injuries.
Immediate family has been notified of her death but her name is not being released.
It was initially reported that the woman fell four metres but the RCMP later clarified that it was two feet. Police are now working in an assistance role to help the coroner with her investigation.
"We've concluded, at this point, that there's nothing to suggest there was any criminal activity," said RCMP Sgt. Shawn LeMay. "There was no foul play. This was a tragic accident and so our investigation adjusts slightly in the sense we are in an assistance role in what is a Coroner's Act investigation."
