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www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 57 No. 36
Ten years since loss on Mountain Cameron Orr The manager for a massive search operation on Mount Elizabeth in 2002 looks back on the event 10 years later as something that rallied the community together. Bob McLeod, the co-ordinator for the Kitimat Emergency Program, said that there were approximately 180 people on the mountain over the two weeks of searching which eventually led to the discovery of the bodies of Christina Huckvale and Chris Markoff. They were reported missing on August 25, 2002. The operation called in the expertise of numerous Search and Rescue (SAR) personnel, from those in the north to crews out of the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. McLeod believes it was one the largest, possibly the largest, search operations in the province. Despite the tragic conclusion to the search, the effect of the incident not only pulled the community together in an unprecedented way but gave the local Search and Rescue group a boost to its membership, which persists to this day. “It was a huge event,” said McLeod, noting that membership rose from around a dozen or so people to about 50.
Sentinel
Northern The rescue operation in 2002 saw over 100,000 volunteer hours as well. What took so much work during the search was the fact that no one had a good idea where the pair could have been. “We responded with the RCMP but the only thing we had to show absolutely where they were was the word of people who had been told they were going up the mountain and their vehicle,” said McLeod. A helicopter lifted a rescue team to the peak and they worked their way down — once weather allowed — and a team worked from the bottom. There was no sign of anyone. Huckvale’s body was eventually found on Aug. 29, and McLeod said the photos on the camera she had showed them both at the mountain peak. That gave the search parties a little more indication over what might have happened because Markoff was a more experienced hiker than Huckvale. “He was the type of person that would look after her. We started to think he got into trouble first,” he said. A month after the search was officially called off, a volunteer team
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The memorial plaque at the top of Mount Elizabeth honours the memory of the two hikers who died on the mountain in 2002. Photo from Kitimat Search and Rescue came together with searchers from Terrace and the North Shore and Markoff’s body was found. McLeod said no one can know what really happened although there is speculation on what could have occured. “Above where she was found, down, you can see the road,” he said, leading to theories that Markoff fell and in her panic, Huckvale tried to
make a line to the road, getting into trouble herself. Kitimat’s SAR group benefited from such a wide amount of support both locally — McLeod said they had so many offers of assistance that they couldn’t even use everybody — and provincially. Continued on page 3
Man takes up task of clearing walkway Cameron Orr A local man is taking up the task of clearing the walkway that runs behind his house even though the District of Kitimat has the walkway scheduled for decommissioning. John Patrick Allsop moved to Kitimat this past July, to take up a volunteer teaching position in Kitamaat Village to teach reading. With today’s housing crunch he was pleased to find a rental home on Gander Crescent, but found the walkway that connects two portions of Gyrfalcon Avenue with Gannet Crescent in need of serious repair. Using only a shovel, a chainsaw and a wheelbarrow the nearly-70-year-old went to work and spent his summer months bringing the pathway back to life. Underneath the overgrowth, the walkway itself appeared in good condition. The entire walkway is about 180 metres or 500ft.
Allsop’s work didn’t change the mind of the District’s administration who recommended the status quo of removing the walkway when Allsop’s letter arrived in council’s agenda for Aug. 20. In that letter Allsop describes the work he has done to clear the walkway. “I love the pathways here in Kitimat. I’ve never seen them before,” he later told the Sentinel. In council’s report from the engineering department, they note that consultation was done with homeowners in the area and 75 per cent of residents responded, with all the respondents in favour of the walkway removal for the purpose of improving drainage. “The walkway shows little evidence of use and has deteriorated to the point that it requires closure or replacement,” the report states. Also, due to the walkway’s narrow 10ft corridor, it would be more expensive to replace the walkway than others in town would cost.
The walkway was initially budgeted for removal in Feb. 2011, but with higher than expected costs for the entire walkway program the money was transferred to other walkway replacement projects. In 2012 the funding was reapproved for removing the Gander/Gannet walkway but administration say that staff shortages in the engineering department means the work will likely now take place in the spring of 2013. The removal of the walkway is budgetted for $75,000. In response to Allsop’s letter he has seen a stream of engineers and town councillor’s visit the walkway and his home. Six out of Kitimat’s seven member council toured the sidewalk along with staff last Tuesday and councillor Rob Goffinet said they will keep the issue in focus for the time being. Continued on page 2
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