Sea to Sky Gondola mystery remains unsolved 5 years after 2nd sabotage
The main suspension cable of the popular Squamish tourist attraction was severed in 2019 and again in 2020
Five years after the Sea to Sky Gondola was sabotaged for the second time in a span of 13 months, the mystery of who did it remains unsolved.
In September of 2020, someone cut through the main steel suspension cable, sending gondola cars crashing to the ground in a repeat of the sabotage that happened for the first time in August 2019.
Today, B.C. RCMP major crimes section is saying little about the case except that it is of continued public interest.
"Investigators continue to explore all leads and avenues to advance this investigation," said RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Vanessa Munn in a statement.
The Sea to Sky Gondola is a privately owned tourist attraction near Squamish, carrying hundreds of thousands of passengers every year to a cliff-top viewpoint located almost 900 metres above Howe Sound.
It reopened fully in 2021 after a second round of multimillion-dollar repairs to replace the severed cable and smashed gondola cars. Meanwhile, lawsuits stemming from the vandalism continue to pile up in B.C. Supreme Court.
Sea to Sky Gondola Ltd. is suing Unified Systems Inc. (USI), a company that was hired to install a security system after the first cable cut in 2019.
The notice of civil claims says the security system included alarms that would be triggered by any unauthorized approach or access to the gondola towers; however, there were multiple failures when no alarms went off the morning of Sept. 14, 2020, when a vandal "walked to a tower of the gondola, ascended its ladder and began to cut the main cable."
In its response, USI claims that Sea to Sky Gondola did not have the budget for the system USI originally designed, opting for a version that was "significantly pared back."
It says Sea to Sky Gondola failed to remove the gondola cars from the suspension cable each night in order to give thermal cameras unobstructed views of the lift and towers, failed to keep the main cable running through the night, and didn't put up barriers or remove ladders from gondola bases and towers.
USI has also filed third-party claims against Black Tusk Fire and Security Inc. and Lanvac Monitoring Inc.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Sea to Sky Gondola doubled its reward offer from $250,000 to $500,000 three years ago for tips leading to a conviction.
Police have said it's possible the same person cut the cable both times.
With files from Chad Pawson