Squamish’s Sea to Sky Gondola is down following a major lift incident.

General Manager Kirby Brown says the gondola faced a “deropement”, meaning the rope has come off the line. The incident occurred at approximately 4 am Saturday morning, and means that the gondola is completely down, and will be down for the “foreseeable future”.

“What we know so far is that we didn’t receive any 911 or Search & Rescue calls last night, given the hour. It’s just extraordinarily unlikely that any people were involved… for me that’s the most important thing, and for the whole team here” says Brown.

The facility’s General Manager says there was no environmental mechanism for this; “there where no earthquakes in the area, no high winds, no electrical storms and even in those events it would be extraordinary to see that happen”. Cable car company Doppelmayr Canada are en route to ascertain what exactly happened. “There’s no normal mechanism for something like this to occur, so it’s a puzzle that needs to be solved” says Brown.

Currently the Sea to Summit Trail and the Shannon Falls Connector Trail are both closed, with the Sea to Sky Gondola saying it’s extraordinarily dangerous for anyone to be hiking underneath the lift line today. The parking area at the gondola will also be closed for maintenance, and locals can expect to see helicopters flying around the facility in the coming days.

“We’ve got a lot of staff members that we’re worried about to keep employed, and we’re very focused on getting the operation back up and running as swiftly and safely as we possibly can” says Brown.

RCMP have opened an investigation into the cause of the incident.

 

Filed under: Sea to Sky, Sea to Sky Gondola, Squamish