31 October 2008

Did you hear the one about a goat in a landslide?

Posted by Dave Petley

A bit of light relief over at the Highway 97 site in Canada, which continues to slip. Arthon have a pictorial report on their website of the rescue of a mountain goat that had fallen down the tension crack and become wedged 10 m below the surface (all images from the Arthon website):

Fortunately, the goat (now named Houdini) was spotted and a rescue was put in place. Enter the gallant abseilers (you wouldn’t mess with these guys on a dark night):


They abseiled down and tranquilised the goat, who was then hauled back to safety:


Meanwhile the slope is still moving 10-15 mm per day and as a result the road is still closed. A water taxi has starts on Saturday morning to allow people to get around the blockage.

Hat tip – Andrew Giles again.