Hollywood loves to make movies about elaborate heists, often involving high-wire thefts of diamonds or other precious items. Rarely do such heists involve snowmobile parts.
But that’s exactly what appears to have happened at a Squamish adventure park where someone went to great lengths to steal parts of a snowmobile that was suspended 10 metres off the ground.
The centrepiece of Rope Runner Aerial Adventure Park is a four-level, 15-storey adventure course made up of ropes and other elements, including a Ski-Doo feature.
Rope Runner staff stripped the snowmobile of its motor and other parts to make it as light as possible for the course.
That didn’t stop thieves from scaling the course and stealing parts off the snowmobile.
The brazen theft was discovered on Saturday.
“It was pretty obvious that the steering was missing, the handlebar was missing,” Rope Runner Squamish co-owner Jean-Philippe Tondreau said.
While daredevil heists may be a staple of Hollywood films, Squamish RCMP said it’s rare to see thieves go to such great lengths.
“Criminals go in when it’s easy,” Squamish RCMP Staff Sgt. Jolaine Percival said. “This one took a little bit more time, that’s why it’s odd to us.”
“To think that someone would steal that,” Tondreau said. “We also have a bicycle up there. The next thing we know the bicycle will be gone?”
Squamish’s No Limits Motorsports first donated the snowmobile for a park feature.
No Limits owner Stephen Wheeler said parts off the stolen steering column are worth about $1,000.
“Whoever did that knew exactly what they wanted,” he said. “It’s a pretty specific part on the machine.”
Wheeler is replacing the parts to make the feature functional again for the last few weeks of the season.
But Tondreau says having to compromise puts a damper on the holidays.
“It should be the giving season and not the stealing season,” he said.