Tourists Stranded in Banff Gondola Cabins After Power Outage

Hundreds of people were stranded after a power outage shut down the Banff gondola and some had to be airlifted by helicopter, in Banff, Alta., on Aug. 8, 2023. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

A number of tourists were stranded in gondola cabins at various heights of the 2,292-foot Banff Sulphur Mountain, while up to 300 more were stuck at the top of the mountain.

The gondola, which is operated by Pursuit, was shut down due to a power outage that occurred after a lightning storm on Aug. 7, according to spokeswoman Tanya Otis. She told The Epoch Times on Aug. 8 that this was an “unprecedented stoppage” as a result of the storm, and the company’s first priority was ensuring the safety of visitors who were stuck outside in the gondola cabins at various points in the journey on the mountain.

“Once those guests were safely downloaded our team was fully focused on ensuring guests in our upper terminal had food, beverages and blankets while updating them on the situation,” said Ms. Otis. The gondola had backup power that was used to recover those passengers stuck in cable cars, which took approximately one hour.

Once the tourists were taken down from the gondola, some were able to hike down, but some had to spend the night on the mountain, waiting for the next morning to be able to get down.

By the morning of Aug. 8, Ms. Otis said all guests were safely helicoptered off the mountain, with the assistance of Parks Canada.

“At 2 p.m. this afternoon, after diligent assessment and work by our internal and external team of engineers, we have been able to safely restart the gondola,” added Ms. Otis.

Hundreds of people were stranded after a power outage shut down the Banff gondola and some had to be airlifted by helicopter, in Banff, Alta., on Aug. 8, 2023. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

The top of the gondola houses the Sky Bistro restaurant and a gift store.

One woman posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, complaining that the gondola wasn’t prepared for the shutdown.

“The lack of preparedness for situations like this is astonishing. Not even the gift shop is giving away blankets, sweaters etc… only the restaurants started to provide food after 2 hours here and with nobody telling us what is going on,” she said. The video showed dozens of people sleeping tightly beside each other, on the floor with space blankets.

Some visitors chose not to stay overnight in the gondola, instead hiking down the five-and-a-half-kilometre trail, rated “moderate” difficulty by the Banff National Park website. It says the trail switchbacks up the slope and gains about 655 metres of elevation from the bottom to the top.

One woman posted that while there were some people who probably could not have hiked down the trail, she walked down it while pregnant wearing slip-on shoes. “Sunrise was shortly after 6 am and it’s an hour walk on a well-travelled trail,” she said. “It’s not life-threatening,” she added.

Another woman said her group hiked down from the Banff gondola in the morning after spending the night. “No we weren’t necessary ’stranded' and the staff were amazing with providing food, drinks, etc. But there was no way we were walking down a (relatively) steep and unknown trail at 3am after a storm,” she said, including photos.

One man was pictured sleeping on two tables pushed together in what looked like a restaurant, and another photo showed a large group of people, some wearing toques and space blankets, as they were evacuating in the morning.

Another man posted a photo of two children asleep on space blankets, inside a structure at the top of the gondola. He said many people were sleeping on site.