About one hundred spent up to four hours stuck at the top of a mountain in Jasper National Park after the Jasper SkyTram was shut down due to high winds Saturday evening.
Peter Scott, operations manager with Jasper SkyTram, said the gondola was put on standby around 7:30 p.m when the winds began to pick up. At that point, about one hundred people were already at the top of the mountain.
Around 10 p.m. staff managed to transport about fifty people down the hill before the tramcars went back on standby.
“Being the mountains, storm systems can come in quite quickly so that’s why we have procedures in place,” Scott said.
People stuck at the top of the mountain were provided food, water and blankets, Scott said.
“We cater to people in flip flops and experienced hikers. So we’re prepared for these situations.”
Staff managed to get everyone down around 11:30 p.m.
“We had some really good guest feedback saying the staff did a good job of keeping people comfortable,” Scott said.
“They got the true Canadian experience. We have a lot of guests coming from all around the world.”
Scott said the gondola system automatically goes on standby when the winds pick up.
“Number one priority being public safety and if the trams move around at all we don’t want them to come into contact with something,” Scott said.
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