A melting glacier triggered a massive rock slide on the unstable slope of a dormant volcano near Pemberton, BC, on Friday, diverting a river, blocking a creek and raising concern that a newly formed lake behind the slide could flood the valley below. Provincial emergency officials were assessing the danger posed by the avalanche on Capricorn Mountain, 65 km north of Pemberton, which left an earth-and-debris dam 300 metres wide and two kilometres long. It spanned nearly the entire breadth of the valley. An evacuation alert was issued for parts of the Lil'wat First Nation's lands. The slide stranded 13 campers who were airlifted out. There were no reports of anyone killed or injured. The slide hit at about 5:30 am Friday below the melting Capricorn Glacier. A 10-kilometre-long lake formed behind the dam after the slide blocked Meager Creek and forced the Lillooet River to cut a new channel. Debris from the slide blocked access to the main road into a popular hiking and camping area 35 kilometres north of Pemberton, which is 150 kilometres northeast of Vancouver. The campers, who were from Metro Vancouver, Toronto and the Pemberton/Whistler region, were taken from the area by helicopter. Five local miners voluntarily stayed on high ground behind the slide area. "The Capricorn Glacier has given way and fallen on Meager Creek," Whistler RCMP spokesman Sgt. Shawn LeMay said. The debris blocking the creek is "made up of soil rock and snow that's fallen from Capricorn Mountain ...
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John 'Lofty' Wiseman speaks to visitors on ISOLATION at The Bushcraft Show www.thebushcraftshow.co.uk
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