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Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Your source for weekly news and views in the Robson Valley
Locals honoured for brave rescue Laura Keil lkeil@therockymountaingoat.com Pilot Dale Brady of ValeThe air was thin, which mount and rescue techni- can affect the perforcian Steve Blake of Jasper mance of the helicopter, will be awarded Medals of Brady says, who’s been Bravery by the Governor flying helicopters for General for braving thin nearly 20 years. air and severe winds in a “We were lucky enough helicopter rescue of two to have the machine that climbers on Mount Rob- we did.” son two years ago. Above the clouds it was a The hazardous rescue was clear blue sky. But at the the highest they had ever peak, the two hikers had performed been roiled at 12,000 “They said they felt that in storms feet, near that day was their last,” for the past the peak week. They Steve Blake, on the resof Mount had been out R o b s o n , cue of two climbers on for almost Mt. Robson in 2008 three weeks which is h i g h e r and had spent than all the seven days on peaks in Jasper National the summit without food Park. and weathering severe It was the highest res- storms. cue Blake had ever done, “They said they felt that and he does roughly 20 that day was their last,” rescues a year for Parks Blake says. “The one Canada. guy was not really able to “It was a very quick function any more.” rescue, but very intense,” Since the helicopter Blake says. “It was a seri- couldn’t land, Blake lowous undertaking.” ered himself on a sling. Low-lying fog and trou- But after he clipped to blesome clouds made it both climbers, one of the difficult to navigate to the climbers fell off a perch location. Luckily there and the rope twisted was an opening in the around some ice. The clouds, which enabled helicopter and the three them to shoot up above people on the line were the clouds and work their anchored to the slope. way down to the peak. Cont’ A3
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Volume 1 Issue 9
They’re back!
Photos: Laura Keil
Erica Innes and her children Sam and Jorja August watch two adult Chinook salmon fight over stream bed territory in Swift Creek just off Hwy 5 in Valemount. The Chinook Salmon have returned to Swift Creek in Valemount. The 1300-kilometre journey is one of the longest made by migratory Chinook anywhere in the world. Only about 25 out of 100 survive the journey up to the headwaters of the Fraser River drainage. The life cycle of the Chinook seen in Swift Creek is 3-4 years. Female Chinook dig nests
Robson Valley winery?
in the gravel bed of the creek, then lay their eggs. Males Chinook then fertilize their eggs by releasing sperm just upstream of the nests. Both adults die once they have completed spawning. The eggs take about 90 days to hatch, and after 18 months of feeding in the creek, juvenile salmon (smolts) swim back to the ocean where they mature into adult salmon only to
return to the very same stream a few years later. The best locations to view the salmon are in Valemount at George Hicks Regional Park near the Valemount Visitor Centre, or at Rearguard Falls on Highway 16, about 10 km south of Mt. Robson. The Valemount visitor information center will be presenting free salmon talks everyday at 7 p.m.
for the remainder of August. The presentation is 30-40 minutes long and visitor centre staff will give detailed information on the salmon and their life-cycle. Visitor Centre staff warn not to harass the salmon, by sttaying out of the creek and keeping dogs on a leash. It is an offense to physically harm Chinook salmon when they are spawning.
Logging vandals strike