Reward doubled to $500K in Sea to Sky Gondola vandalism case

Two years after the Sea to Sky Gondola in Squamish, B.C., was last targeted by vandals, authorities have announced the reward for helping bring those responsible to justice has doubled to $500,000.

The gondola operators hope the increased reward will ensure “this person who has endangered the lives of our people and endangered the viability of our community will be brought in swiftly,” said general manager Kirby Brown.

The RCMP also announced Wednesday that the investigation has been taken over by its Major Crimes Special Projects Unit, which released a thermal image of a suspect along with video showing that a security guard was nearly injured during the most recent incident in September 2020.

Authorities said the security guard was "within seconds" of being struck by one of the massive cables that hold up the gondolas, and were severed in both acts of vandalism.

Cpl. Chris Manseau said investigators are pursuing a charge of mischief endangering life – a criminal count that can lead to a life sentence – and urged anyone with information on the person or people responsible to come forward.

"We know that there are people out there with information that could assist police with this investigation," Manseau said.

"What's important to remember here is that someone nearly lost their life."

Police believe the suspect in the 2020 incident is extremely fit, knows the area well and has "specific knowledge about what tools to use in order to cut the cables in such a way that it would cause catastrophic damage to the gondola while protecting the suspect himself from harm," Manseau said.

Investigators said they have interviewed more than 75 people, but do not know the motive for the attacks.

They also don’t know if the same suspect is responsible for both acts of vandalism.

In August 2019, lines at the Sea to Sky Gondola were deliberately cut for the first time, sending the attraction's cable cars crashing to the ground. About 75 staff members were laid off as a result of the attraction being forced to close. 

The gondola reopened in February 2020 after more than $5 million in repairs, then temporarily closed due to COVID-19 in March. The attraction reopened with new health-and-safety measures in May.

But on Sept. 14, 2020, the attraction's security team alerted police to another act of vandalism. A technical report later confirmed the cables were deliberately severed for a second time. 

The gondola opened again the following June. Around that time, Kirby Brown, general manager of the Sea to Sky Gondola, told CTV News Vancouver security became a "preoccupation" for the operators. 

"I used to say I run a tourism business and now I run a security operation, and that’s both sad and true," Brown said. "We’d all feel better when they catch these individuals or the individual."