High Winds Force Gondola Closure, Hundreds Stranded Overnight On Grouse Mountain

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 13 Dec, 2015 02:28 PM

VANCOUVER — Hundreds of people spent the night stranded on Vancouver's Grouse Mountain as high winds forced the resort to shut down its main gondola.

More than 300 visitors and about 100 staff were stuck in the mountain-top lodge as overnight winds peaked at more than 100 kilometres an hour.

It's all fun and games up Grouse Mountain until the wind picks up, the gondola has to close and you can't leave the mountain for 12 hours at 6:30 am the following day. Kudos to Grouse staff though who were pretty great at keeping us all happy #grousemountain #snow #wind #stuckupamountain

A photo posted by sarahjhampton (@sarahjhampton) on Dec 13, 2015 at 7:30am PST

Trams stopped operating between 11:30 p.m. on Sunday and around 5:30 a.m. the following day.

Grouse Mountain spokeswoman Julie Grant says the situation was unusual.

Grant says guests were kept comfortable through the night with blankets, snacks and hot chocolate, while Christmas movies played continuously in the theatre.

Because what else do you do when you're stranded on Grouse Mountain? #stillpretty #snow #grousemountain #wind #allthelights #withmylove #christmasdatenight

A photo posted by @stefi_w5 on Dec 13, 2015 at 12:22am PST

Blustery weather over the past 48 hours also managed to blanket the ski hill with 50 centimetres of fresh snow.

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