One of the many things last weekend’s landslide at Lions Bay and the almost 24-hour road closure that followed highlights is that the Sea to Sky Highway is the artery in the heart of the Sea to Sky.
There is no viable alternate way out or into our region if Highway 99 goes out.
Longtime locals know this and have lived through longer closures than this one, such as in 1990, when a rockslide closed the highway for 12 days, costing $7 million for repairs and many landslide-prevention geotechnical structures to be put in place.
Watching non-locals scramble for an alternate route last Saturday and then be shocked that there isn’t one drives home the vital infrastructure the highway is for Squamish, particularily, but also for Whistler and Pemberton.
This incident also showed that blindly relying on app maps is a fool’s game and dangerous.
Hopefully, no one attempted the mountainous route shown on certain online maps.
The incident also shows clearly how many of us travel to and from the city—especially at this time of year to catch flights, see family, celebrate, shop and attend events.
Drivers going to and fro are like the blood flow from the heart—all vitally interconnected.
The weekend also demonstrated once again how hazardous life along the Sea to Sky can be with the harrowing crash at Chance Creek and the loss of life when the house with two occupants was swept away with the slide.
Our hearts go out to all those impacted by those tragic events.
Most heartwarmingly, the reaction to the landslide showed—despite our many differences—truly how good many people are.
It was beyond heartwarming to see the online posts offering places to stay, resources and solid advice to folks from near and far who were trapped, uncertain or confused.
(Here’s looking at you, Sea to Sky Road Conditions Facebook group.)
For all the havoc online discourse causes, this was a time when it shined.
Kudos to the businesses who let folks hunker down, like the Squamish McDonald’s, where some travellers stayed all night.
A big thank you to the first responders and crews who took care of business so we could all get back to our lives in under 24 hours.
And to those crews who searched for a week to recover the bodies of the Lions Bay couple who died in the slide, massive appreciation from us all for doing what so many of us could not.
Happy holidays to everyone who was trapped, who helped and who improvised and made the best of it over this weekend.
Well done. We heart you.
