I’d heard of the Hope Slide of 1965, but it wasn’t until we stopped at the viewpoint this past July, that I could see how massive it really was.
On Saturday January 9, 1965, about 20 km east of Hope, half an unnamed mountain plunged down the highway. It brought 46 million cubic metres of rock, earth, snow and trees. 300 metres of wreckage, rushed up the other side of the valley, and back down again. When it was finished, four people were dead, a valley and a lake were wiped out, and kilometres of highway was destroyed.
To give you an idea of the devastation the slide caused—the height of the mountain that fell was a little under 2,000 metres. Grouse Mountain is just over 1,200 metres.
Flying Phil Gaglardi:
Highways Minister, (Flying Phil) Gaglardi took a helicopter out to survey the wreckage and told the Victoria Daily Times: “It looked as if a giant stood on top of the mountain and split it with an axe.”
Norm Stephanishin was driving a semi-trailer to Hope, when he came across Bernie Beck, Dennis Arlitt and Mary Kalmakoff. It was just after 4:00 am and they were pushing out their car from the snow it was stuck in from the first slide. Norm heard rumbling and thought there could be a second slide. He told them that he was going to hike to Sumallo Lodge and call for help. He said they should go with him, but decided to stay. As they talked, Thomas Starchuk pulled up behind in his hay truck. Starchuk also stayed, and Beck climbed in the truck with him. Arlitt and Kalmakoff sheltered in Stephanishin’s semi.
Two Earthquakes:
Seismographs recorded two earthquakes that morning with epicentres in the Nicolum Valley area. The second was at 6:58 am, the time of the second slide.
The bodies of Bernie Lloyd Beck, 27 a salesman from Penticton and father of a toddler, and Thomas Starchuk, 38 -year-old father of four from Aldergrove were recovered later that day. The bodies of Dennis George Arlitt, 23 and Mary Kalmakoff, 21 and the 1957 yellow Ford convertible they were travelling in, were never found.
According to the plaque, the new highway and the viewpoint we were visiting, were built on slide debris about 55 metres above the original road.
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