July 31, 2008
Yikes - big rock slide up north
The primary road connecting Vancouver, B.C. with the Whistler Resort is closed for a few days due to a slide. From Canada.com:B.C. rock slide closes Olympic highwayJohn Lehmann from The Globe and Mail has some amazing photographs. Here is a thumbnail of one, the others are here.
2 narrowly escape rock slide across Sea-to-Sky highway, 10,000 tourists stuck in Whistler side
A 24-passenger bus drove out from under a massive rock slide that spilled car-sized boulders across the Sea-to-Sky Highway - the road connecting 2010 Olympic sites Whistler and Vancouver.
Driver Peter Skeels said he heard a "loud and unnerving sound" while driving Tuesday night, but didn't recognize it as the sound of tumbling rocks slamming into the side of the bus.
Operating on instinct, the Perimeter Transportation driver didn't stop to investigate. He just floored the gas pedal. And that may well have saved the 38-year-old and his only passenger.
All but one of the windows on the right side of the 24-seat vehicle were shattered by rocks as the bus sped out from under the slide. The only pane left intact was next to the sole passenger.
"We were chatting, and suddenly there was this catastrophic sound, like a ton of rocks pouring onto a tin box," Skeels said.
It will be at least five days before the Sea-to-Sky Highway reopens, said B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon.
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