Hikers and the Sea to Sky Gondola

Posted by: chupacabra

Posted by: thaaad

Is being a stickler about the rules more important than the safety of 2 poorly prepared people?

No.

So at what point do they say no? Or do they never say no? Because at that point they might as well keep it open 24/7. Where do they draw the line? 

I'm ok with them charging a higher fee for after hours service, but I think where they went wrong was not allowing those people to pay at the bottom. At the end of the day though the responsibility falls on the hikers for not being properly prepared - which includes being aware of the conditions and leaving enough time to complete the hike based on those conditions.

Posted by: shoreboy

Posted by: Brocklanders

Took them 6 hours to do the 7.5 km hike to the top? That's uber slow. 48 mins per km, were they crawling?

Weak, crying to the media, entitlement to the max. Hope the selfies at the top received lots of likes. That's what really counts.

Average time is 3-4 hrs apparently (I havent hiked it). They encountered snow and less than ideal conditions so 6 isnt out of the question. Im not defending their choices, but I can see how it might take that long. S2S gondola admitted they have a punitive fee for downloading hikers after closing time to discourage late comers from abusing the system. Its not as if they refused to pay.  The ATM at the top was not functioning, and they were told they were not allowed to pay at the bottom when they downloaded.  Again, they were ill prepared and were not planning to hike back down and both parties deserve some blame, but S2S gondola messed up on this one in my opinion.

Average time on trail head maps is the slowest of slow. Haines valley map at headwaters is 6 hours. A good hiker can do it in half that. I think it took me 2 hours to do the chief last time, and we were going slow due to the group dynamic. 

I am guessing when these two dorks showed up to the gondy way late, an hour was it? They were acting like assholes to the staff, probably deserved the treatment they received. Don't think we have the full story here. Just don't buy it, sorry.

Posted by: Stuminator

Most of the blame has to lay on the hikers. That said, how would S2S Gondola feel if one of them got hurt hiking back down?

They shouldn't give a shit, outside of the ability to assist in search & rescue efforts if possible, the same way as Whistler Blackcomb shouldn't give a shit if someone crashes and gets hurt descending Singing Pass trail on the way in from backcountry skiing. The folks travelling in the backcountry should be prepared for self rescue, and if they cannot self rescue/overnight due to severity of the situation then call SAR. 

If this happened to me I would be pissed, and probably walk down out of spite/cheapness. 

S2S fucked up from a PR perspective, but operationally the need to have rules and procedures otherwise may as well spin 24/7.