An investigation by an independent technical safety regulator into an incident that grounded the Sea to Sky Gondola last month concluded the haul rope was deliberately cut, and there was no technical system failure.
The damaged cable was discovered on the morning of Sept. 14, with dozens of cars having crashed to the ground.
It was the second time the cable had been cut in just over a year.
Technical Safety BC confirmed Friday that the most recent incident “was the result of the gondola’s main haul rope being deliberately cut” and ruled out other factors such as the design, installation and operation of the technical system.
The haul rope consists of six strands of galvanized steel, Technical Safety BC said. During the September incident, several of the rope’s strands were cut, and the “remaining strains failed due to tension overload.”
The safety regulator came to a similar conclusion about an August 2019 incident that caused most of the gondola’s 30 cabins to fall to the ground, many of them damaged beyond repair.
No one was injured in either incident.
Police have yet to make an arrest in either instance.
— With files from Gord Macdonald, Amy Judd and Simon Little
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