Day 16 - gondola tower collapses

I hope this is the one and only time that title is part of my blog.  How about this one:  "still bitter cold in Whistler and nothing is falling from the sky except gondolas."  (stolen from someone on Facebook) -  before I start with the breaking news from Whistler Blackcomb, let me tell you about my day.

Another cold one but not as cold as yesterday.  I had another shadow today and we were given a class of eight level 2's.  All of them were just learning how to turn.  We spent the day on the Magic Carpet, but had the Olympic Chair been open, we would have ventured over there by mid-afternoon.  Unfortunately, the CLC area was all we had to work with.  Nothing exciting.

Conditions up top are still horrible.  And when I say horrible, I mean most runs are a SHEET OF ICE!  The winds have been considerable the last couple of days and those winds are blowing what little snow is there right off the runs, leaving nothing but the ice underneath.  

Now onto the excitement...... I know many people have heard about the gondola tower collapse on Blackcomb and have inquired about my safety.  Let me start off by saying that I am safe and sound.  I was nowhere near the Excalibur as I work on Whistler and rarely ride Blackcomb on my days off.  For those of you who haven't heard:  tower 4 collapsed on the Blackcomb gondola today leaving 50+ people stranded in cabins and sending 3 cabins falling about 15-20ft and then left them swinging in mid-air.  Here's a link to the news story:  Fallen Gondola

Here's what I heard:  The top half of tower four split from the botton half and the top half fell to the ground leaving the three gondola cabins that were in between towers 3 and 4 hanging from the rope.  One cabin landed on the top of the bus shelter, one cabin was hanging over the creek that separates the two mountains, and one cabin landed on the roof of a house (I don't think this last one was true).  No one was seriously injured.... no broken bones, just bumps and bruises and most likely sheer terror!!!  How does something like this happen?  One theory:  water was inside the pole, froze (with the sub-zero arctic cold temperatures we've been having) - the ice expanded and crack.... there goes the tower.  I'm sure WB is working on a press release.  I wish I had better pictures. 

Cabin resting on roof of bus shelter.

To the left of the ladder is the bottom half of the tower.

Great shot taken by Dave Steers.  You can see where the tower no longer exists and you can see it resting on the ground.