Kicking Horse Ski Resort has issued an apology and an updated operations plan following a gondola detachment accident which saw a cabin from the Golden Eagle Express Gondola loaded with 8 passengers fall to the ground.
The gondola cabin fell from a little over three feet on March 10th at 9:20am shortly after leaving the base terminal. None of the eight passengers were injured. An initial investigation led to the tentative conclusion that a lift hanger breaking after leaving the base terminal caused the accident.
Kicking Horse is working with the lift manufacturer Leitner Poma and the governing body responsible for chairlift safety in British Columbia, Technical Safety BC, to further investigate the root cause of the failure. Golden Eagle Express Gondola is currently closed and Kicking Horse is currently unable to provide a timeline when it will return to service.
Kicking Horse has taken a decidedly transparent approach to the investigation and has committed to providing a weekly update on the investigation process and measures taken to safely return the Golden Eagle Express Gondola to service. Read the full statement issued by Kicking Horse Mountain Resort below.
Kicking Horse Mountain Resort Statement:
From all of us at KHMR, we want to provide our sincere apologies to anyone who was involved with the Golden Eagle Express Gondola incident this past Monday.
This was a very serious incident, and we were lucky that no one was seriously injured. Safety continues to be our #1 priority at RCR and KHMR, so be assured that we are doing all we can to ensure everyone’s safety while at our resort.
Currently, the KHMR team are working alongside industry experts, the lift manufacturer (Leitner Poma) and Technical Safety BC (the entity responsible for standards governing the use of ski lifts in British Columbia) on the investigation into the incident, with a goal to determine the root cause of how this occurred.
This investigation is going to be extremely thorough, as we want it to be, with no determined length of time for this process to be completed. As such, we are unable to provide you with an update on when the Golden Eagle Express Gondola will be able to return to service.
It is our plan to provide you with a weekly update on the pace of the investigation process and on what steps are being taken or put in place to allow the safe return to service for this lift.
At this time, we can confirm that the Golden Eagle Express Gondola will not be returning to service over the next week, and likely the following week either, but we will provide you with an update by next Wednesday, March 19.
In the meantime, resort operations are up and running with the Catamount and Pioneer Chairlifts along with the Jellybean Magic Carpet in operation daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. All base area services operated by KHMR will remain open daily.
Starting Saturday, March 15, we will be operating the Stairway to Heaven Chairlift and opening our upper mountain terrain for skiing and riding. Access to this lift will require a ski tour or a walk/hike from the top of the Pioneer Chairlift up to the base of the Stairway to Heaven Chairlift. A defined “uptrack” route will be set for bootpacking or skinning, leading skiers up into Crystal Bowl to the base of the lift. The Stairway to Heaven Chairlift will be in operation from 10:00 a.m. through to 3:30 p.m. to allow skiing and riding in the high alpine terrain. The ongoing schedule for this service will be determined following our first weekend of operation, but if all proves successful, we will look to provide this service daily.
The Heaven’s Door Yurt will also be open from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with food and drink available.
We plan to move forward with all of our scheduled spring events, including Open Mic Fridays and Live Music Apres Saturdays in the Whitetooth Grill. An updated events schedule can be found on our website.
We truly appreciate all your ongoing support and understanding while we work through this challenging situation.
-Kicking Horse Mountain Resort
images from Robert Pon
