Hundreds of people have been trapped overnight atop a mountain in Canada’s Banff national park after a a lightning strike shut down a popular gondola ride.
As many as 300 people were stranded after the power failure on Monday evening disabled the 40-car ride that scales Sulphur mountain.
Footage shared on social media showed dozens of travelers sleeping under silver emergency blankets on the floors of the gondola summit.
“The lack of preparedness for situations like this is astonishing,” wrote one user. “Not even the gift shop is giving away blankets, sweaters etc… only the restaurants started to provide food after 2 hours here and with nobody telling us what is going on.”
On Tuesday morning, Parks Canada and independent contractors began airlifting the stranded guests.
But posts from stranded tourists also prompted arguments online over whether they could simply walk down the 5.4km switchback trail down the mountain.
“Yeah, in the dark in bear country with an iPhone flashlight,” responded one user.
Pursuit, which operates the ride, did not immediately respond to comment. On its website, the company said the ride would be closed until mid-afternoon Tuesday and promised to refund any pre-booked tickets. No injuries have been reported.
Prices for the gondola begin at C$65 for the eight-minute trip. Once at the summit, visitors can also tour a mountain boardwalk with views of the the Rocky Mountains. There are also a number of restaurants atop Sulphur mountain.
Construction of the popular tourist ride was completed in 1959, with a rebuild in 1998.
Banff, a popular destination for international tourists, sees more than 4 million people crowd into the mountain town each summer, amid concern the park and surrounding area are nearing a breaking point.
