B.C. gondola ride to reopen early after cable cut by vandals last August

Operators of the Sea to Sky Gondola say the attraction will reopen ahead of schedule after vandals cut the ride's main cable last August.

The company says operations in Squamish, B.C., will resume Feb. 14, several weeks ahead of the previously estimated date.

The ride's 30 cabins, each capable of carrying eight people, smashed to the ground but the vandalism occurred while the attraction was closed and no one was hurt.

The main cable and 30 new cabins arrived from Europe in the months after the incident and general manager Kirby Brown says final safety inspections and certification by Technical Safety BC will be conducted in the first week of February.

An RCMP investigation continues and no arrests have been made. Brown says additional security measures installed since August will "ensure the gondola is secure and protected from any other criminal activity." "We want our guests to know they can travel to the summit on the Sea to Sky Gondola with complete confidence,” he says in a statement.

The gondola officially opened in 2014. During the summer season it can carry as many as 3,000 people on the roughly 10-minute ride to an elevation 885 metres above Howe Sound.