Hydrologist Allen Isaacson inspected this site and concurs with my observations, which follow.

A debris torrent originating from a main branch of the Summit Basin Forest Access Road ran down the mountain slopes to deposit thousands of cubic meters of debris on Highway 6 at Summit Lake. Highway crews were able to keep the highway open to single lane traffic throughout the weekend. All the coarse debris stopped at the highway, but the creek continued to transport tons of fine sentiments into Summit Lake and muddied a large area of this fish-bearing lake. This debris torrent started in the side cast road fill that crossed a steep gully at 6.5 k of the Summit Lake Forest Service Road. This road fill contained a large log and organics on a 75% slope in the draw. There was a spring coming out of the center of the road fill at the scarp. The scarp was 30 metres wide and dropped approximately 30 metres into the creek. This debris torrent ran 2 km down slope to the highway, scouring the creek bed to bedrock. This scarp was at approximately the 1,400 m elevation and snowline. This debris torrent occurred approximately 9 km to the north east of the debris torrents in Slewiskin creek.

This road had been modified and reactivated by SFP to access a cutting permit that they partially logged during the fall of 1998. Surface drainage control in the vicinity of the scarp was very poor and inadequate. The road climbed on a 9% grade with signs of heavy surface water flow down the rutted road surface. There was heavy water flow in the drainage ditch on the upper side of the road and a lack of culverts to disperse the water across the road. The first culvert on the road above the scarp was 140 metres distant and it was 174 metres to the first water bar. This water bar was too shallow to be effective and water continued through this water bar down the road surface to the scarp. There was a switchback at 206 metres from the scarp and water continued to flow down the road surface. A new culvert had been installed approximately 332 metres up the road and around the switchback above the scarp. This was the first spring of its existence and it was discharging water into the drainage basin above the scarp. It was not until 350 metres from the scarp and around the switchback that the first functional water bar was encountered that collected the road surface water and directed it off of the road. Even though this road was built before the Forest Practices Code, it was modified and reactivated since the Code came into effect. As such it is subject to:

13. (1) A person required to construct or modify a road in compliance with section 62 (1) of the Act must do all of the following when constructing the drainage system for the road:
            (c) ensure that the drainage system
                (iv) prevents water from being directed onto potentially unstable slopes or soil material,

The Ministry of Forests contends that there were no Forest Practices Code violations in regards to Slocan Forest Product's use of the Summit Lake FSR regarding this incident. Slocan Forest Product's use of this road was licensed under Road Use Permit # 98/5323.01/01 and is subject to the Forest Practices Code regulations and standards. The drainage control is totally inadequate and substandard, especially given the history of this slope. There have been debris torrents off of this road network on average of one every six years for the last 30 years. The scar can still be seen from a debris torrent that originated from this FSR in 1966, while in 1993 another debris torrent that was within 600 metres of this debris torrent closed the road and eventually flowed into the same channel and also damaged the highway.