10 January 2007
Ross Peak Snowslide
Ross Peak British Columbia - Just heard, down at the
Revelstoke station, that the Ross Peak Slide came down on its own, even though avalanche stabilization crews have been actively
shooting all winter.
The slide, came down from the south side, swept across the tracks wiping out the block signal at the mouth of the MacDonald Tunnel as
well as the signal box. Then the noise and vibration brought down the snow on the north side of the valley. Both the railway and
highway are covered by these slides.
The snow went 9 metres into the mouth of the tunnel. Eye witnesses said that the snow over the track was taller than the big
front-end loader used to clear the snow away.
Rumor has it that once the track is cleared, they may be putting pushers on temporarily to operate trains on the Connaught track until
the signal problems on the MacDonald track are cleared up.
Traffic still hasn't caught up after all the delays of the past few weeks. Trains are stopped everywhere. It will be quite a while
before operation returns to normal.
In the 35 years I've been operating here in Revelstoke, this is the first time this slide has come down. Normally, the Avalanche
Stabilization program, shooting howitzers at the slide, bring it down in small amounts that never reach the road or track. Luckily,
there were no trains operating in the area at the time - Bob Eley.
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