Whistler Blackcomb mountain, site of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, reopened on schedule Wednesday after an ice buildup in a gondola tower caused it to partially snap Tuesday with dozens of people inside the gondolas, said safety officials.
"Preliminary inspection by B.C. safety officers has determined that this was an isolated incident of water contamination in a tower tube which caused a tower joint flange to fail due to ice jacking," said Greg Paddon, safety manager with BC Safety Authority, in a statement Wednesday.
"There is no justification at this time that other installations operating at Whistler Blackcomb have been affected by a similar failure."
The authority also said it was unlikely any operating permits would be rescinded on any lifts currently operating at Whistler Blackcomb except the Excalibur gondola, which is the lift that ruptured.
Doug Forseth, the resort’s senior vice-president, said all chairlifts on both mountains were inspected to ensure they are operating safely. He said crews worked until after midnight early Wednesday to conduct a secondary inspection of all chairlifts.
"We will take all precautions to make sure this never happens again … We are going to work very hard to restore confidence," he told reporters at a news conference Wednesday.
The preliminary inspection was completed overnight by a team of 20 maintenance staff from the resort.
Officials said that because of 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.’"
Mr. Forseth said the incident was an isolated one. "I know of only one other case of this happening in North America," he said.
Investigators with the RCMP and safety agencies remained on the mountain Wednesday, continuing their examination into the incident, which stranded 53 passengers and injured 10.
The support tower for the Excalibur gondola, which carries skiers from Whistler Village to the top of Blackcomb Mountain, snapped 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 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 BC 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.
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.
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