The wind started to pick up and the gondola rocked around a bit on its cables. A short while later, about 100 people filed off the Jasper Skytram at the top of Whistlers Mountain Saturday night and were stuck for upwards of five hours.

Just after 7 p.m., the Skytram stopped making trips down the mountain. David Apps, visiting Alberta from Montreal, was one of the riders.

“The first thing you think is general frustration — ‘damn it, that means I’m going to miss that dinner table, the reservation we had for diner tonight,” Apps told CBC News Saturday night. “And then you start to think, actually, we might be here for a little longer’.” 

Peter Scott, operations manager with Jasper Skytram said the gondola went on standby at 7:42 p.m. Scott confirmed 100 people were waiting in the mountain-top shelter with washrooms, water, restaurant and heat.

Kendall Pereira from Toronto was stuck at the top, and described it as an “experience” waiting for the ride down the mountain.

She said they had to wait outside the shelter, part of it in the rain, for almost an hour.  It was crowded with “lots of dogs and lots of kids,” she told CBC News Sunday.

She said staff in the building gave out french fries, tea and coffee and put on music.

“They did a really good job, they kept everyone’s tension at bay.”

At first, Apps said people were laughing and joking with each other. Then they noticed a gondola hadn’t come up for about 45 minutes. 

been stuck on @JasperSkyTram since 6:00PM … it’s now 11:00PM but witnessing some truly amazing Canadian hospitality. #proudtobecanadian

— @kendallerica

Apps started to think he and his wife would be stuck on the mountaintop for the night.

“You go through that sort of mix of emotions of amusement that ‘ah, this will be a good story to tell,'” he said.

Apps said it wasn’t clear how long the adventure would last.

“The control centre didn’t really seem to have a good set of actions that …  kicked into place when transit was disrupted.”

Apps was told the gondolas generally stop running when winds reach 30 km/h.

Environment Canada meteorologist Robyn Dyck said winds reached 40 km/h Saturday. It may not sound like much, but the “higher up you go you may also have stronger winds,” she said.

Scott said blankets, food, water were available during the wait, and everyone made it off by 12:30 a.m.

He noted that it doesn’t happen every day but Jasper Skytram puts up signs up to notify people it is possible to get stuck at the top.

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