The Icefields Parkway became a bit rocky for motorists when six large rocks tumbled onto the road near Weeping Wall in Banff National Park, July 17.
No one was hurt in the incident, said Kim Weir, fire communications officer for Jasper National Park, and the road remained open to single-lane traffic during the clean up.
A motorist who stopped at the Rampart Creek Hostel first reported the incident at 1:55 p.m. Six boulders of varying sizes鈥攐ne larger than a car鈥攚ere scattered on a section of road located about two kilometres south of Weeping Wall and 126 km south of the Jasper townsite.
Peter Weiland from Squamish, B.C. was biking on the road at the time and posted a short video and a few photos of the event on his Facebook page, with the caption: 鈥淸The rockslide] started about 1,000 feet above us near the Weeping Wall, Banff National Park. We first heard it, then saw the rocks and yelled to each other: Ride hard!鈥� As of July 22, the video was shared more than 1,500 times.
George Brybycin of Calgary was on his way to Jasper when he noticed cars parked on the side of the road. He thought there might be wildlife ahead, so he proceeded with caution.
鈥淭hen I saw huge clouds, I mean like 300 metres high. The entire valley was covered with dust.鈥�
Two oncoming vehicles flagged him down and told him not to drive ahead because there was debris on the road, but the mountain climber, photographer and publisher, who drives to Jasper at least once a month, continued on.
鈥淚 hit the dust and visibility was zero. Next thing I know, there鈥檚 something dark in front of me and I thought that it was a car because it was very large.鈥�
The car turned out to be a rock, which he said was almost the size of the station wagon he drives. After creeping along for another 15 metres, he came across another rock in the middle of the lane, this one larger than his car.
As an experienced mountain climber, Brybycin has seen rockslides before. 鈥淭he main thing is to get out of there, don鈥檛 fool around, [don鈥檛 take] photos,鈥� he said.
After navigating around the last few boulders, the dust was behind Brybycin, but he didn鈥檛 see any oncoming traffic. 鈥淚 thought maybe there鈥檚 more [rocks and debris] in front of me.鈥�
Finally, he passed a lineup of cars in the oncoming lane. One driver told Brybycin that everyone was waiting, in case more rocks fell.
鈥淚 was the only one [that went through],鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if I made the right decision or wrong. I was the only one and lucky it just worked out.鈥�
Rockslides are natural hazards in any mountainous terrain, said Weir. 鈥淭hey happen, but infrequently鈥攅specially when there hasn鈥檛 been a significant weather event.鈥�
The Lake Louise/Kootenay/Yoho Highway field unit cleared the debris and the closed lane was re-opened by the early evening.
Sarah Makowsky
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