Coquihalla Highway to remain closed by avalanche

A wall of snow blocking the Coquihalla Highway is likely to keep that highway closed until the end of the week, B.C.'s transportation minister said aftertouring the site Monday.

"The trip was a real eye-opener in terms of what the crews are facing," said Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon,still wearingboots when he met reporters at the legislature in Victoria on Monday.

Falcon spent the morning touring the Coquihalla Highway by helicopter, flying low because of the danger of triggering more avalanches.

"The one slide that we personally visited, which is probablyfive metres high and covering about50metres in length acrossthe highway, is only about a third of the snow that is actually up in the hill. So we've still got two-thirds of the snow that is sitting up there waiting to come down," Falcon said.

Avalanche technicians are working around the clock,said Falcon,but it's still too dangerous for them to clear all the snow.

"Best case scenario is it's going to continue to be closed until the end of the week," said Falcon.

This isthe first time all four lanes of the Coquihalla have been closed by slides and there was nothing the government or the highway maintenance contractors could have done to prevent it, Falcon said.

"This is really Mother Nature in control of this situation," he said.