A transformer failed yesterday afternoon at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, knocking two lifts out of service. Crews restarted the Catamount quad on auxiliary but the Golden Eagle Express Gondola sustained damage to its safety systems such that it could not operate. With nightfall approaching, some of the gondola’s 75 passengers were plucked out of cabins by helicopter at sunset, making for some pretty spectacular GoPro footage. The rest were roped down by ground teams over about five hours. The 8-passenger, 11,188′ Golden Eagle Express was built by Poma in 2000 and rises more than 3,500 vertical feet. The gondola remained closed today but the mountain hopes to have it back in business tomorrow.
Kicking Horse posted the following statement on Facebook this morning:
“Further to an electrical issue, the Golden Eagle Express Gondola was manually evacuated yesterday evening. With everyone safe, warm and fed, we apologize to each of you involved for the inconvenience. We are thankful that everyone is safe and credit to the talented team of professionals; Kicking Horse Mountain Resort teams, Golden and District Search and Rescue & Canadian Ski Patrol. We are hopeful that the Gondola will be spinning later today, though currently is still on standby. We are offering skiing and snowboarding via the Catamount Chair & Pioneer Chair. Stay tuned for further updates.”
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Thanks for the share Peter. It’s nice to see Kicking Horse allowed the individual to keep the footage of the rescue rolling.
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Looking at the timing, the 16-year old who shot the video had it edited, set to music and uploaded to YouTube within two hours of being off the gondola. And a day later it has more views than all the videos ever posted by Kicking Horse’s marketing department combined. Asking guests not to film during something like this just isn’t going to happen these days. I think people understand that machines break on occasion and I love the video because it shows true professionalism (and some spectacular scenery) during an otherwise bad situation.
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Definitely agree with you by the amount of views the video has has as well as media sites And by it not taking kicking horse being accountable like some probably would blame them in someway for this happening the 16 year old showed even though a negative thing occurred some were in great spirits enjoyed the experience and accredited kicking horse staff and rescue for their amazing efforts I don’t think kicking horse would take offence to this great publicity for the resort just another thing showing why it is one of the number one resorts. Great job kid for making the best of the day and showing everyone what an amazing resort kicking horse is to visit!!!! Cheers
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The video has been viewed 330,000 times now.
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