A Kemptville woman was among those trapped for hours when a gondola partially collapsed at a ski resort in Whistler, B.C. Tuesday afternoon.
Cynthia Jennings was on vacation with her husband at the Whistler-Blackcomb resort when one of the towers on a gondola partially collapsed. She was in a car halfway up the mountain when the pole snapped.
"All we saw were other cars swinging sideways and we thought we were going to crash to the ground," she told CTV News by cellphone.
"I thought the whole cable system was going to come down. I couldn't even breathe."
Officials are blaming a build-up of ice for causing the partial collapse of a gondola support tower on Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler, B.C.
The tower collapsed around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, trapping 53 skiers and snowboarders for several hours in subzero temperatures. All were rescued, with 13 suffering minor injuries.
A press release issued by the ski resort operator on Wednesday says several factors were involved in the collapse of the tower, which consists of two parts that are spliced together.
"Water had seeped into the tower which had turned to ice with the recent extreme cold temperatures," the statement said.
"The ice build-up caused the tower splice to rupture, an extremely unusual situation referred to as 'ice-jacking.'"
Following the incident, a team of 20 lift maintenance staff conducted a preliminary inspection of all similar tower structures to make sure no similar issues exist.
