Whistler gondola broke

BioGeorge

BioGeorge

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A gondola tower at the base of Whistler, B.C.'s Blackcomb Mountain has come off its moorings, trapping at least six people inside several cars.

Witnesses say they heard a big booming from the Blackcomb "Excalibur" tower around 2:30 p.m. PST, followed by a snapping noise. The tower is now leaning quite heavily to one side.

Dave Komadowski was standing at the base of the mountain, in Whistler Village, when it happened.

He says at least six people are trapped inside the gondola closest to the base of the mountain, the car resting only a few feet off the ground. Four to six people are inside.

One cabin has crashed on top of a bus shelter in Whistler Village. The one beyond it is dangling five metres above Fitzsimmons Creek.

Another gondola, about 40 metres further up the mountain, also has people trapped inside. A crew from the Whistler Fire Department is on the scene and has reached a long ladder to the car, and is figuring out how to extricate the people inside.

The gondola cable is said to be sagging down quite far from its regular track.

Komadowski says at least one house sitting under the main gondola line has damage to the roof from the cable hitting it.

This gondola is not the new Peak-to-Peak gondola system that opened in Whistler last week.

The Blackcomb "Excalibur" gondola is 509 metres tall. Each gondola cabin holds around eight to 10 people.

-CTV News B.C.
 
Only b/c everyone's ok does sarcasm fit...

$50 mil well spent. How many people will ride the gondola of doom during the Olympics?
 
that really sucks

i had always wondered, while riding that gondola, what would happen to the houses/condos below if the gondolas fell. well... they didnt exactly fall, but it is quite apparent that it was a real risk. pretty freaky overall
 
i clicked on this thread in the hopes that it was the new one...but this isn't really much of a disappointment. i like how there are six people "trapped" just a few feet off the ground.
 
reminds me of this time i was at sun valley and the people in front of us were gonna get on the cold spring chair but the little kid was slow so they missed a chair and got on the next one. about half way up the chair in front of them fell like 30 feet onto some rocks and shit, slow kid saved their asses, fucking scary tho, i won't ride that lift anymore
 
My buddy just called me on his way down the hill and said that apperently a truck crashed into the tower and that was the cause
 
^ its not the new one ..... but i would be preety pissed off if someonw built a gondola right overr my housee ! aha nevermind pissed off it fell on it ..
 
Wow, that would be super scary, it's good to hear that no one was hurt, hopefully they will do a major check-up on all the other lifts, just to be safe.
 
i know a guy who was one of the people injured on that, hes paralized from the waist down. Fucked up, can happen to anyone (who rides chairlifts)
 
Thats spooky. I was in CH over xmas last year, and I had just taken a medium-rickety lift up when a ridiculously strong wind picked up, like 3 mph and suddenly it was howling at 40 mph. Anyway, I'm traversing on the opposite side of the valley when I look back at the lift I was on 20 min. earlier, and the cable is off the rollers, with a chair resting on the ground. Gave me shivers. When I got to the village, I found out that 2 germans had died after a 45 ft. fall to rocks. They had already loaded the chair when the wind picked up, and it was too old to run in reverse. Scary to have such a close call.
 
shit i have never really heard about chairlifts failing like this!!! fuck that im hiking haha

best way to die though.... on the mountains that we all love so much
 
any updates on the people?
and why are people so scared of gondolas? ive never even thought about them being dangerous. at least not any more dangerous than a regular ift.
 
damn thats some scary shit. glad to hear nobody was seriously injured.
curious to see what caused the failure
 
yea i was gonna say everyone in a gondola is about to get the setup of their dreams, and probably new cars too.
 
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