The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is reporting that they believe someone purposefully cut the 5.5cm (2.16″) diameter cable of the Sea-to-Sky Gondola in Squamish, BC near Whistler at 4am yesterday morning – August 10th, 2019.

“We believe the cables were cut and this was a deliberate act of vandalism.”

“At this time, it’s a crime scene.” – Inspector Kara Triance, Squamish RCMP.

The cutting of the cable sent 30 of the gondola cars smashing to the ground causing over $1 million in damages, according to the RCMP.

The gondola was not operating at the time of the cable cutting and no injuries have been reported.

“It’s just an incredibly unusual thing to happen.  We just did our maintenance on the line very recently and it was a big, thick, beautiful healthy rope.” – Kirby Brown, Sea-to-Sky’s general manager

People camping in the area report hearing loud banging and scraping sounds yesterday morning when the event occurred.

The RCMP are presently working with Technical Safety BC and Doppelmayr and efforts are currently being made to walk the gondola line so that it can be properly inspected.

“[The experts] know the difference between a compromised cable and something that would be cut deliberately.” – Inspector Kara Triance, Squamish RCMP.

At this time, it’s believed that someone hiked up to one of the lift poles, climbed up, and somehow cut the gondola cable.

“They put themselves in extreme jeopardy, not only the nature of the action of climbing up that pole and being in that position … but also the velocity at which the cable would unravel at that point.” – Inspector Kara Triance, Squamish RCMP.

BC Parks reports that they have closed 3 trails the run beneath the gondola due to the gondola crash:  Sea to Summit Trail, Shannon Falls Connector Trail, Upper Shannon Falls Trail.

The RCMP is currently looking for witnesses.

“We know that there were people that hiked to the top of the [Stawamus Chief Mountain] this morning, and we are asking that anybody in the area that did hike the trails to come speak to police. We’re looking for witnesses.”  – Inspector Kara Triance, Squamish RCMP.

The gondola cable is 5.5cms (2.16″)  in diameter and made up of 6 strands, according to Kirby Brown, Sea-to-Sky’s general manager.

Brown reports that the company’s main priority right now is finding out exactly what caused the gondolas to come down.

“We’ve got a lot of hours ahead of us of really coming to grips with what occurred before we get focused on the fix.” – Kirby Brown, Sea-to-Sky’s general manager

The Sea-to-Sky gondola operates from 9:30am-6pm Sunday to Wednesday and 9:30am-8pm Thursday to Saturday.

RCMP Squamish Press Release:

UPDATE: RCMP investigation continues at Sea to Sky Gondola

Squamish

2019-08-10 15:25 PDT

File # 2019-5024

This morning at approximately 7:00am, employees of the Sea to Sky Gondola noticed a down cable and saw several gondola cars on the ground. After initial assessment by the Sea to Sky Gondola the RCMP were called.

The RCMP have been on scene since just after 8:45 am and are working to determine the cause of the incident. Until such time as a cause has been definitely identified, Police are treating this as criminal in nature and have not ruled out that this was a deliberate act.

We recognize the potential of what could have been and are thankful that no one was injured. We are currently assessing the damage but our preliminary assessment suggests that a cable was cut. We will continue our investigation and release updates to you as soon as possible. says Cst. Ashley MacKay, Media Relations Officer for Squamish RCMP.

The RCMP are presently working with Technical Safety BC and Doppelmayr and efforts are currently being made to walk the gondola line so that it can be properly inspected.

At this time, the RCMP is asking for anyone with information or anyone that was in the area at the time to please come forward. That includes hikers, climbers and campers who were in the areas of the Sea to Sky Gondola as well as the Stawamus Chief Provincial Park between 4:00 am and 9:00 am this morning.