Hope Slide
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The Hope Slide was one of the largest landslides ever recorded in Canada.[1] It occurred in the morning hours of January 9 1965 near Hope, British Columbia, and killed four people.
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[edit] Prior avalanche
Prior to the landslide, a small avalanche had forced four people to stop their vehicles a few miles southeast of the town of Hope, British Columbia—150 kilometres (93 mi) east of Vancouver—on a stretch of the Hope-Princeton Highway below Johnson Peak. As those people contemplated waiting for clearing crews or turning around, the main slide occurred.
[edit] Landslide
Just before 7 AM, a small earthquake below the mountain triggered the Hope Slide, which obliterated the mountain's southwestern slope. The slide buried the victims and their vehicles under a torrent of 46 million cubic meters of pulverized rock, mud, and debris 85 metres (280 ft) deep and 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) wide, which came down the 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) mountainside . This mass of debris completely displaced the water and mud in the 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.
Rescue crews only found two of the four bodies—the others have remained entombed in the rock, with their cars, since 1965.
[edit] Cause
The instability of the mountainside was caused by water eroding the connective soils to the rock base. The landslide was triggered by an earthquake.
[edit] Result
When driving on the new highway across the debris field a traveler can only then truly appreciate the hopelessness of anyone caught in the slide's path, the massive size of the slide being reflected in the many large rocks the size of delivery trucks. A view point on Highway 3 allows tourists to view the scar.
The highway has since been rerouted around and over the base of the slide's debris field 55 metres above the original ground level on the other side of valley. Most of the massive scar on the mountain face remains bare rock, without significant growth of trees or other large vegetation. It is quite easily visible from jet aircraft passing overhead.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- An aerial photo and stereogram of the Hope Slide
- B.C. Government Landslide Information
- Slide! (a program on B.C. Knowledge Network)
- Views of the Hope Slide
Coordinates: 49°17′56″N 121°15′49″W / 49.29889°N 121.26361°W
