The beauty of this area is its proximity to the natural splendour of a crystal-clear lake, river, a lush west-coast rain forest, or those towering
snow-capped peaks.
Today I was at the base of one of those peaks known as Mt. Slesse or "The Fang" as it is known to the Coast-Salish natives. But the freshly-fallen snow glistening off its summit did not soften the jagged memory of what happened on this mountain almost 52 years ago.
On December 9th, 1956, a Trans-Canada DC-4 airliner slammed into the east face of Mt. Slesse, killing all 62 onboard. The exact cause of the crash was never determined, but the pilot reported icing and engine failure shortly before the DC-4 disappeared from radar.
A few years ago, after visiting the crash victims' memorial located a few miles away from the base of the mountain, I decided to do some research. But I was to find that people who live at the foot of mountains sometimes do not like to look all the way up. Because of the wintry conditions at the time of the disaster, the search and recover efforts were delayed until Spring. When the recovery team finally reached the site the following May, they discovered that the crash had spread debris and bodies over a fairly wide area of the mountain. After some cursory investigation, it was decided that the crash site and remains of the victims would be left intact.
The wreckage was left undisturbed for many years. In the mid 1960s, one of the locals climbed up to the site. The hike awas difficult, but not impossible for those with some mountaineering experience. He described it as "walking into a time warp." Hats, shoes, purses, suitcases and other items were strewn over a wide area. When he relayed this information to the local townspeople, a restlessness descended. Soon, many were also hiking to the crsh site. The wreck was pilfered. Some of the artifacts and personal possessions of the passengers wer brought down the mountain. Sometimes these ghoulish souvenirs would be passed around the town's beer parlour on a Friday night. What is disturbing is teh fact that the knowledge of this pilfering was kept secret amongst the locals. A code of silence descended upon the town. Some viewed the silence as a cloak of shame.
When the relatives of some of the victims were eventually advised of this, they were justly outraged and sought remedy. The provincial government declared the crash and debris area a consecated site. Trespassers would be subject to severe penalty.
On this last day of winter, it was cold standing in the shadow of Slesse's peak, but there was one large rock which was being warmed by the sun. The rock and weight of the book in my purse invited me to sit down and read awhile. I pulled out "Wartime Writings, 1939 - 1944" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Saint-Exupery is one of my favourite writers. After earning his wings in 1926, he became an air-mail pilot. His love of flying and concern for mankind inspired most of his writings.
The technology of flight was something Saint-Exupery would always marvel at, but he juxtaposed that with a fear for the future of humanity. His writings are peppered with the endangerment of man's spiritual adventure. If he had been with me today, he would have been horrified at the thought of men stealing the materialistic wealth from the dead. Slesse's fang would have sunk itself deep into Saint-Exupery's soul.
I opened my book and read one of his last letters, dated July 30th, 1944. As I sat at the base of that mountain which will always be pitted by the kind of spiritual endangerment Saint-Exupery warned us about, a couple of lines from his letter resonated a cold starkness: "As I was crossing the Alps pursued by German fighter planes, I smiled at myself. If I'm shot down, I won't regret anything. The future anthill appalls me, and I hate the robot virtues.
When will it be possible to say to those one loves that one loves them?"
(On July 31st, 1944, Saint-Exupery took off for a recognizance mission and disappeared over the Mediterrranean. His body was never found. The wreckage of his airplane was discovered off the coast of Marseilles in 2000).
The Canadian Museum of Flight in Langley, B.C. has a small display devoted to the Mount Slesse disaster.
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