No injuries after massive Stawamus Chief rock slide

The brown area shows where a large chunk of rock fell off of the Stawamus Chief on Sunday. (Courtesy District of Squamish)

Witnesses to a rock slide at a popular hiking and rock climbing area in Squamish on Sunday reported on social media that it sounded like an explosion and felt like an earthquake.

Dozens of emergency vehicles converged on the Stawamus Chief after a large rock slide in the North Walls area of the north peak of the mountain was reported shortly before noon.

So far, no injuries have been reported as a result of the rock slide, and no one has been reported missing, according to Inspector Davis Wendell, regional duty officer for the RCMP’s Lower Mainland District.

“We have no intelligence to suggest at this time that there is anyone trapped there,” Wendell said.

He said police are aware of four climbers who were on the mountain at the time of the incident, all of whom are accounted for. Police will be interviewing them to determine whether anyone else was on the mountain at the time, he said.

Anyone who knows someone who may have been climbing the mountain at the time of rock slide or knows someone who frequents the area and remains unaccounted for, is asked to call Squamish RCMP at 604-892-6900.

Complicating the effort to determine whether anyone was trapped in the rubble is the fact that the rock face remains unstable, Wendell said.

Police have not begun a ground search of the area, he said, and will not do so until they’re certain it’s safe to do so.

“We can’t put the rescuers into danger,” Wendell said.

He said the north face of the mountain is closed to climbers and could remain closed for quite a while.

The piece of rock that fell off the mountain was roughly 1,000 cubic metres in volume, Wendell said.

The rock slide comes just days after a massive fire at the Squamish shipping terminal. Between the two events, “it’s been a little exciting,” Squamish Mayor Patricia Heintzman told reporters.

Her first reaction to hearing of the rock slide was concern for injuries, she said.

“Everyone knows climbers in town,” she said. “You think about if people are hurt, and you worry.”

The incident did not affect Highway 99, which runs nearby.