The rock slide occurred around 1 p.m. Thursday leaving two dead and three injured.Larry MacDougal/The Canadian Press
The death toll from Thursday’s fatal rock slide in the Canadian Rocky Mountains is expected to hold at two, with three people who were transported to hospital in stable condition, authorities said Friday.
Francois Masse, Parks Canada superintendent of the Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay field unit, said authorities believe they have accounted for all the hikers who were near Bow Glacier Falls at the time of the slide. Rescue teams on Thursday evacuated 13 people from the scene in Banff National Park.
The slide killed Jutta Hinrichs, according to Nisa Drozdowski, a spokesperson for the University of Alberta.
Ms. Hinrichs was a professor emeritus in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine’s department of occupational therapy. She retired in July and lived in Calgary. Ms. Hinrichs was 70.
“As an educator, Jutta nurtured many students, preceptors and clinicians to flourish and grow,” the university said in a statement. “That her work continues to enrich the tapestry of occupational therapy in Alberta is her legacy.”
Ms. Hinrichs was a former program co-ordinator for Alberta Health Services and a graduate of Queen’s University, according to her LinkedIn page.
Rock falls are impossible to anticipate or prevent, experts say
She was also a member of the Slow and Steady Hikers Club. Andy Dragt, an organizer with the club, on Thursday told The Globe and Mail that a member of the group died in the rock fall, but he declined to identify the deceased out of respect for the person’s family.
A Parks Canada rescue dog picked up the scent of the second victim Thursday. While the dog identified that person’s location, Parks Canada could not safely recover the body that evening because of “instability and continued hazard,” Mr. Masse told reporters Friday.
The body was recovered Friday. RCMP declined to release any details about the second victim.
Rescue teams searching for victims in a rockfall along a hiking trail in Banff National Park have found a second body. Parks Canada and RCMP say the person was found Friday morning and officials are notifying family.
The Canadian Press
Bow Glacier Falls is about 37 kilometres north of Lake Louise. The moderate hike is near Bow Lake, a popular spot on Canada’s famed Icefields Parkway between Lake Louise and Jasper. The Bow Glacier Falls trail is a three-hour round trip hike, easily accessed from Highway 93 North.
Mr. Masse said the area around Bow Glacier Falls remains closed to visitors for the “foreseeable” future.
“There’s remaining instability in the rock face,” he said. “There will be future assessments before we make a decision on reopening that area.”
The rock slide happened around 1 p.m. Thursday and officials received three notifications from emergency devices. Witnesses have shared video on social media showing part of the headwall crashing down and an enormous cloud of grey dust rising from the valley.
Lisa Paulson, a Parks Canada visitor safety specialist, said officials have accounted for all vehicles parked in the area, do not have any reports of missing people that align with the incident and conducted interviews with survivors. They also surveyed the area with drones and other search-and-rescue technology.
Mr. Masse said the size of the rock fall is “extremely rare” for the mountain environment.
However, a geomorphologist in the University of Calgary’s department of earth, energy and environment, said Thursday’s rock fall was a normal part of how mountain landscapes evolve.
“Gravity. That’s the ultimate driving force here,” Dan Shugar said. “Rocks go downhill.”
Bow Glacier Falls is about 37 kilometres north of Lake Louise and the moderate hike is near Bow Lake.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Mr. Shugar said rock falls are common in the mountains, but usually occur without witnesses. Thursday’s incident, while dramatic and fatal, was probably too small to register on seismometers, he said.
In 2023, a number of hikers were injured in a rock slide at Bow Glacier Falls. Mr. Shugar does not think the two events are related, given how common rock slides are in the mountains.
“It is probably not a whole lot more than coincidence,” he said, noting he could see and hear boulders tumbling over the waterfall when he visited the location a couple years ago.
Mountains, he said, can be deceiving. “They look static and immovable and permanent and grandiose. But, in fact, they are always changing,” Mr. Shugar said. “They are dynamic. Especially when glaciers get involved.”
However, he notes the area is potentially more dangerous after Thursday’s rock slide. The cliff did not collapse from the top or fail entirely. Instead, a chunk of headwall popped out, leaving a substantial roof overhang.
Heavy precipitation, including snow, arrived Friday, according to Parks Canada. Environment Canada on Friday issued a rainfall warning for the area and said heavy wet snow is also expected at higher elevations Friday and Saturday.
With a report from The Canadian Press