Manic Monday | Be thankful, be gracious and be patient
It was unbelievable to see so much rock came down on Highway 97 north of Summerland over the past 10 days and even more incredible that no one was injured.
The magnitude of the fault running 50 meters in both directions of the original slide location can hardly be fathomed. As someone who travels this route often, I am most grateful that the situation has been discovered and is being handled.
As such, I wanted to take this Manic Monday moment to shout out to all of those individuals who have been working tirelessly, in some of our worst weather, on these dangerous and unstable slopes. While much of the talk and news is focused on timing for reopening, the inconvenience of the detours and the effect on local economies, all true points, very little is said about the truly courageous people who are scaling that mountainside and trying to deal with the situation at hand.
I can tell for certain that you would never see me doing that work, and I venture to say that most of you reading this feel the same way. So we should all be incredibly grateful that there are those that are not afraid to take on this challenge. Like our firefighters, in the summer, these crews get up each day and put themselves in harm's way for the benefit of the community, for the benefit of all of us. Left to me to do the work, the road would not be closed indefinitely it would be closed forever. So once again, thank you.
I would also like to take a moment to mention all those that worked to open the forestry access road 201. It is well marked, graded, sanded and was made passable very quickly after the slide occurred. This route, while definitely longer, is an excellent option and the only thing dangerous about it is some of the drivers who find it necessary to speed, pass, and put others in danger, not very impressive behavior.
To all those who have and continue to work on the detour access and the slide area, thank you so much for the work you do. To those traveling these routes, be thankful, be gracious and be patient. Don't be the problem.
Glenn Mandziuk, TOTA President & CEO
