Water that had seeped into a gondola tower and frozen was one factor that led to a gondola lift crashing Tuesday at a popular ski resort in Whistler, B.C., according to the resort operator.
In a news release Wednesday, officials at Whistler/Blackcomb said that, due to extremely cold temperatures, ice buildup in the two parts of the tower that are spliced together led to a "rupture, an extremely unusual situation referred to as ‘ice-jacking’."
Blackcomb Mountain is hosting much of the 2010 Olympic Games and was expected to reopen to skiers and snowboarders Wednesday.
Investigators with the B.C. RCMP and various safety agencies remained on the mountain Wednesday, continuing their examination into why the Excalibur Gondola tumbled, stranding 53 passengers and injuring 10.
Safety crews from the resort and the B.C. Safety Authority were also working on a "secondary inspection" of all other lifts on the Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, officials said early Wednesday. A preliminary inspection was completed overnight by a team of 20 maintenance staff from the resort.
Authorities are not expecting to find danger from the other gondola support towers, the statement said.
The support tower for the Excalibur Gondola, which carries skiers from Whistler Village to the top of Blackcomb Mountain, snapped in half Tuesday afternoon.
None of the eight-passenger gondola cars came off the cable but one came to rest on a bus shelter, forcing fire officials to use a fire truck’s hydraulic ladder to unload passengers.
In all, 15 to 20 cars on the lower base of the gondola were stranded for several hours.
An official said that the Excalibur has not been involved in any accidents since its installation in 1994. It is tested by the B.C. Safety Authority every year and passed its most recent test during the fall.
While the lift remains closed for the investigation and repairs, the other lifts at the resort that had been closed as precaution were expected to reopen throughout the day Wednesday, provided the safety authorities give the green light.
Meanwhile, RCMP Cpl. Peter Thiessen said from Whistler that the RCMP will remain on scene to conduct a separate investigation.
"We’re involved in the investigation, just to ensure that there is nothing criminal involved here," he said. "At this point, there is nothing criminal that we can see."
Olympic Games officials said late Tuesday the Excalibur gondola was not expected to be used as transportation to or from any Olympic venues.
A news conference was scheduled at the mountain for 11 a.m. local time.
In 2002, a five-year-old girl fell about 11 metres from the Creekside Gondola at Whistler when a latch malfunctioned and the car door opened. Soft snow cushioned her fall and she survived.
That gondola was installed in 1996 to replace the Quicksilver Express chairlift, following an accident in December 1995 in which two people died and eight were injured when four chairs fell four storeys to the ground.
Whistler is located about 125 kilometres north of Vancouver.
© Canwest News Service 2008
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