Some Squamish residents were jostled awake at 12:16 a.m. this morning by a rockfall from the north face of the Stawamus Chief.
On social media, locals, especially those who live in the Valleycliffe community that is in the shadow of the mountain, posted about being awoken by the rumbling sound or feeling the vibrations from the fall. Those already awake were drawn to their windows to see what was happening.
On the Stawamus Chief Webcam website, run by Alexis Birkill, sparks can be seen flying as the rocks tumble down the mountain.
Rockfalls are common off of the Chief, but this one was dramatic enough to catch the attention of even seasoned locals.
Squamish local and award-winning geoscientist Pierre Friele has not surprisingly been paying attention to the incident.
"It's large enough to be alarming, but it's not like what we saw, either in 2015 or the ones from the heat wave [in 2021]," he said, of previous large rockfalls that left visible scars on the rock face and below it.
He said that it is hard to pinpoint a weather event that would have precipitated this rockfall but noted the rain we have had recently.
"They are weather-related, but this rockfall doesn't have an obvious rainfall pulse, and then the wind doesn't look extreme. So, in the weather, there's no kind of real trigger. But it did rain hard yesterday, and there could be a delayed response, who knows, right? It's just one of those things. You get progressive weakening of the rock, and at some point, it just breaks. "
He said one of his interests and concerns that he wants to investigate more fully in the coming days is how far the debris field of the rockfall is.
The concern is that people camp on the forest service road below, he said, referencing previous rockfalls when boulder areas were impacted.
He said it would take close scientific monitoring of the conditions to be able to predict rockfalls, but he said when there are weather events, extreme heat, like the heat dome, freezing and thawing, or rain, then rockfalls can be expected.
"If it's raining hard, don't be surprised when it does happen," Friele said.
But there is no concern the whole mountain will be chipped away to a nub from the many rockfalls, he said.
"The rockfalls are small in comparison to the size of the mountain," he said.
And while there was an earthquake of 4 magnitude off of Victoria this morning, that was at about 4 a.m., hours after the Stawamus Chief rockfall.
The events were not related.
Be aware
Alex Ryan Tucker, chair of the Squamish Access Society, told The Squamish Chief rockfalls are a common event, but those who get close to the Stawamus Chief should be aware of the risk.
"Sometimes people have a perception that rockfalls never happen, and that they're totally out of the blue, and that this is really unusual, and certainly a big rockfall is unusual and important to be aware of. But climbers and anyone who's … in that area needs to be aware that rockfalls are a hazard of being in these sorts of spaces,” he said. “And we think it's just really important for climbers, especially those who are a bit newer to outdoor climbing, to always be aware when they're going into those areas, what the risks are and some of the risks that they're taking on."
The awe of the rockfall
Friele referenced the writing of famous naturalist the late John Muir—who helped preserve the Yosemite Valley—and his awe of seeing rockfalls, especially at night.
"He saw a rockfall produce sparks at night and described it," Friele said.
When he was sleeping in his cabin in Yosemite National Park on March 26,1872, there was an earthquake that precipitated a rockfall, startling him awake and mesmerizing him with the sparks that looked like a fire arc.
Of the experience, Muir wrote: "Then, suddenly, out of the strange silence and strange motion there came a tremendous roar. ... and I saw ... falling ... thousands of ... great boulders ...pouring to the valley floor in a free curve luminous from friction, making a terribly sublime and beautiful spectacle-an arc of fire fifteen hundred feet span, as true in form and as steady as a rainbow, in the midst of the stupendous roaring rock-storm.”
With files from Bhagyashree Chatterjee/The SquamishChief
