The long-standing graduation tradition of jumping off the Ghost Lake bridge (along Hwy 1A) has been flagged by Cochrane RCMP as particularly dangerous this year, with respect to the very low levels of the lake this year.
“The dangers are severe,” said Corp. Mel Calahasen with the local RCMP detachment. “Jumping off that bridge could result in a tragic situation…we don’t support it.”
As part of their agreement with the province, TransAlta has been instructed to lower the water level until the initial concerns of a possible flood year have been quelled (normally determined after the first half of June).
While all signs indicate a possible drought year, levels are roughly 1,185 meters — two meters lower than this time last year, as per the provincial pilot project (1,187m), and four meters below the normal depth at this time of year (1,189m).
Leanne Yohemas, spokesperson for TransAlta, said they are currently working on putting up temporary, larger signage to advise people not to jump into the water; they are also working with the province to install larger, more permanent signs.
The current signs (one at either end of the bridge) have been criticized for their small size and poor visibility, as they cannot be viewed properly when walking onto the bridge and are more targeted at traffic driving across the bridge.
“We are also working with schools to offer information and support,” said Yohemas.
Robert Kimura, principal of local Bow Valley High School, said their staff members are always concerned about students jumping.
“We’ve been speaking with all our students, particularly Grade 12 students, regarding this tradition,” he said.
“June 1 has been the day kids have gone in the past, but of course grad is a time when they want to blow off some steam, as well. We will continue to send this safety message right through to the end of the school year.”
Recreational users (boaters) at Ghost Lake, business owners such as Mike Weinert of Ghost Lake Recreations and area residents have made reported by the Eagle and other media outlets over the last few weeks to be angered by what many consider an ‘overreaction to a 100-year event (the flood of 2013)’ and the ‘appeasement of vocal home owners who live along the flood plain downstream of Cochrane’.
The province maintains keeping the water levels low for the time being is a key aspect of their flood mitigation efforts. Concerns not only centre around the loss of business revenues (Weinert’s business of renting dock and mooring slips is down 40 per cent) or the inability to put boats into or out of the water safely, thereby losing potentially several weeks of the boating season — but safety has been flagged as a major concern.
According to Weinert, who has been the owner/operator of Ghost Lake Recreations for 20 years, the low levels ‘pose an extremely high risk’ to bridge jumpers.
The middle of the bridge (where people can be spotted jumping from) to the top of the water is roughly 50-60 feet. The depth of the water here, which normally is around 70 feet, is currently around 50 feet. Concerns have been expressed over the problem unsafe boat launching could pose to emergency services launching their boats into the lake in the event of a rescue situation.
Calahasen and Weinert assert that not only are there additional challenges this year posed by the low levels, including the additional drop (impact) from the top of the bridge, sharp or dangerous hazards protruding out of the water and the steep embankment to climb after swimming to shore, but one of the biggest concerns is the possible shock from hitting the ice cold water of the glacier-fed lake.
“The initial shock can put people into panic mode…people are totally unprepared for how cold that water is, they spend 2-5 seconds under water, begin to panic and come up with lungs full of water,” explained Calahasen, citing the July 2012 incident where a group of young Calgary males jumped off the bridge and 21-year-old Chris Smallwood died.
Smallwood, who emergency services was unable to resuscitate, was believed to not have been a strong swimmer and was impacted by the shock upon hitting the cold water.
