Brewster was forced to temporarily suspend tours on the Athabasca Glacier for about four hours after three of its vehicles slid off an ice road, June 15.
According to the company, the ice explorers that ferry people to and from the glacier lost traction and slid off the ice road due to severe and rapidly changing winter-like conditions.
There were no injuries to guests or staff and outside of some minor cosmetic damage there was no other damage to the vehicles.
鈥淔rom what the drivers reported there was about a seven to 10 minute period of intense snow fall; pure white out conditions which had preceded precipitation earlier that morning,鈥� explained Mark Hendrikse vice president of marketing for鈥╒iad Travel and Recreation, which owns Brewster.
According to Hendrikse, the company immediately deployed clearing equipment, but before it could clear the ice road, which is delineated with markers, the ice explorers had already slid off the road.
He said the first ice explorer lost traction and one of its wheels went off the road. Almost immediately afterwards a second ice explorer behind it also lost traction and slid off the road followed by a third ice explorer that gently slid into the vehicle ahead of it before stopping.
An excavator was brought in to help pull one of the vehicles back onto the road and a decision was made to temporarily suspend operations until the weather improved.
He said at least 150 people would have been travelling in the three vehicles at the time of the accident, which was cleared up within half an hour.
鈥淲e received no complaints from the guests who were on the tour when the incident occur,鈥� said Hendrikse, 鈥淎 lot of them were unaware anything actually happened.鈥�
He said anyone who was waiting at the Icefield Centre to do the tour were given the option of either going to the Glacier Skywalk or receive a full-refund.
Paul Clarke
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