Helicopters rescue 160 people after storm strands them at top of Jasper Skytram

Approximately 160 people were stuck at the top station on the Jasper Skytram Monday when a sudden storm knocked out the lift’s power.

In a statement, Ski Marmot said the storm interrupted the Skytram’s power, which affected an electrical circuit board on the lift.

LISTEN BELOW: 630 CHED’s Ryan Jespersen speaks with Brian Rode

The Skytram could not continue operating, the company said, and about 160 passengers and staff were left at the top station.

Jasper Skytram and Parks Canada started a helicopter evacuation but couldn’t quite rescue everyone before night fell.

“Approximately 110 people were lifted off the mountain before darkness fell,” the statement reads.

“The helicopter evacuation resumed at 6:30 a.m. on June 26 and all guests and staff were safely evacuated by 10:30 a.m.”

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There were no injuries of any kind, according to the statement.

A woman visiting Alberta from London, Ont. told Global News about what happened when she became stuck.

“We went up to the top of the summit and then we got a call from my boyfriend’s mom who told us to come down because it was going to storm,” Kayla Roy said. “We were probably about 30 seconds away from making it on to the last gondola before it broke down… about two hours later, we were told it was a mechanical problem.”

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Roy ended up being stuck for seven hours. She said the first helicopter evacuation saw children and the elderly be taken down and her group was next, taking a helicopter at about 10 p.m.

“Those who spent the night at the top of the Jasper Skytram were well taken care of with food, drink, blankets and pillows supplied.”

Rode said it appeared to him that most of the people who were stuck overnight made the best of the situation.

“They all came off the helicopters with grins on their faces,” he said. “I think they viewed it as quite an adventure.”

Roy said “the company handled it extremely well.”

“I thought it was a fine day — we got free food from them and chocolates and candies and they gave us snacks and stuff to do so… I thought it was awesome,” she said. “They gave us all blanket… we saw people taking naps.

“Nobody seemed upset or angry or panicky.”

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Years from now, when they reminisce about their trip to Jasper National Park, what do you think will be the first tale they’ll tell? When high winds and power surges disrupted operations, Todd Noble and his well trained team at @jasperskytram put together an operation that saw over 100 of roughly 150 people helicoptered off the top off Whistler’s Mountain. Eventually, night fell and the helicopters were grounded leaving approximately 50 people to spend the night on top of the mountain. Morning came, the flights resumed and the rest of the people were brought down to earth. Congratulations to the Jasper Skytram and all involved @parks.canada @sundogjasperab in this successful operation! And congratulations to all of those visiting Jasper National Park who were fortunate enough to get stuck atop Whistler’s. You have no idea how much we Jasperites would have paid to have that helicopter ride or the opportunity to spend a night with the Gods on Olympus amongst the stars. Video: Joe Urie #lifeisanadventure #liveit

A post shared by Jasper Tour Company (@jaspertourcompany) on Jun 26, 2018 at 12:24pm PDT

Worked yesterday and got stuck up on top of the mountain at jasper sky tram for the night and got a #helicopterride down from work today at #jasperskytram #whistlersmountain #jasperalberta #myjasper #skytramjasper #tramway

A post shared by @ our3mpyre.oe on Jun 26, 2018 at 10:02am PDT

READ MORE: About 100 people spend hours stuck on mountain after high winds stop Jasper SkyTram

In September 2017, about 100 people 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.

Rode said the only other helicopter evacuation occurred in 2010.

“We plan for these types of things and we have protocols in place which is why the operation went quite smoothly,” he said. “I think a lot of people are going to go home with a story they can share that many of their friends won’t have.”

A message on the Jasper Skytram website said it was closed June 26 and June 27.

Rode said he hoped the Skytram would be operational again by Thursday. He said while the issue with the circuit board has never come up before, he’s confident the manufacturer will figure out what happened.

445am #morningsky up at the #skytram #jasperalberta #alberta #jasper #myjasper

A post shared by @ our3mpyre.oe on Jun 26, 2018 at 10:21am PDT