Hope Slide - Landslide

Landslide

Two earthquakes were said to have been recorded in the general area of the slide. One quake occurred at 3:56 am and the second at 6:58 am. The slide that obliterated the mountain's southwestern slope was discovered when members of the RCMP detachment at Hope B.C. were dispatched to what were first reported as a couple of small rock slides. The first news reports of the slide were from CHWK Radio in Chilliwack where morning news reporter Gerry Pash and later News Director Edward Wilson filed voice reports with Broadcast News and Canadian Press. The slide buried a Chevrolet Sedan with two occupants, another car and driver, and a tanker truck and its driver under a torrent of 47 million cubic meters of pulverized rock, mud, and debris 85 metres (279 ft) deep and 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) wide, which came down the 2,000-metre (6,600 ft) mountainside. This mass of debris completely displaced the water and mud in Outram Lake below with incredible force, throwing it against the opposite side of the valley, wiping all vegetation and trees down to the bare rock, then splashed back up the original (now bare) slope before settling. Recent research showed that these impacts against the opposite valley sides produced the seismic signatures interpreted as earthquakes.

Rescue crews only found two of the four bodies—the others have remained entombed under the rock since 1965. A Greyhound bus traveling to Hope was stopped just before the slide. The driver turned back and was credited with saving his passengers from a tragedy.

British Columbia Highways Minister Phil Gaglardi personally attended at the scene and directed the construction of a temporary "shoofly" road over the southern portion of the slide.