Accessing Idaho Peak this summer near Sandon just got a lot more difficult.
Sandon resident Hal Wright said a slide occurred 1.5 kilometres up Idaho Forest Service Road this month during heavy rainfall.
Wright said damage to the road is significant.
“A portion of the road is completely gone. It is just massive destruction up there right now,” he said. “The slide went down the hill half a kilometre and took out portions of the road in a number of locations.”
Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources recently surveyed the slide damage from a helicopter and said the road could be closed for up to two years, according to Wright.
Wright said absolutely nothing stood in the path of the slide.
“The slide took out huge hemlock trees that were probably three feet in diameter at the base, he said. “All of the debris went down into a creek and through an old mill site built in the 1900s.”
A portion of road near a bridge between Cody and Sandon was also damaged by the heavy rainfall, and crews have been hard at work to repair it.
Wright said he’s currently working with the B.C. government to make a retaining wall in the village 75 feet longer to reduce the risk of flooding along Sandon Creek.
Sandon remains open to visitors and Wright is hopeful that the Silversmith power plant will open for tours shortly.
