2 people now confirmed dead in Bow Glacier Falls rockfall in Banff National Park
Two people are now confirmed dead in a massive rockfall that struck numerous hikers near Bow Glacier Falls in Banff National Park on Thursday.
A 70-year-old Calgary woman was found dead at the scene on Thursday and RCMP say a second deceased person was recovered on Friday morning.
Three people were also transported to hospital by STARS and ground ambulance on Thursday. All were in stable condition.
DON'T MISS: What are invasive plant species? And how much harm can they do?
"At this time, there are no additional persons reported missing and no additional unidentified vehicles at the trailhead located at Bow Lake," Parks Canada said in a release Friday morning.
Rescuers resumed their search for others who might be missing on Friday. Parks Canada visitor safety teams were joined by members of Canada Task Force Two (CAN-TF2 Calgary), a national disaster response team.
"A Canada Task Force One … geotechnical engineer will conduct a slope stability assessment. The safety of first responders and park visitors is our top priority," Parks Canada said in a statement .
The task force team is also conducting infrared flights in the area with help from members of the Calgary Police Service.
The incident was initially reported to police at about 1:30 p.m. on Thursday when Lake Louise RCMP were notified that "multiple hikers" were caught in a rockfall near Bow Glacier Falls.
SEE ALSO: Offcials step up plans to combat flesh-eating screwworm
Parks Canada, the Lake Louise fire department, STARS Air Ambulance, the RCMP and EMS responded to the scene.
According to STARS, two helicopters were dispatched — STAR-1 from Calgary and STAR-3 from Edmonton — and transported one patient each to Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary.
"It was such a relief to see those helicopters flying in," said Elly Jackson, who was hiking solo in the area with her dogs, Juniper and Oxford, when the rockfall happened.
She narrowly escaped with minor injuries.
She had been chatting with a group of women who had stopped for lunch below the cliffs beside Bow Glacier Falls and was just about to start hiking back down, when the rock gave way.
'It looked like a multi-storey building'
Jackson said she had her back to the cliffs but heard a "cracking sound" and when she looked over her shoulder and saw the size of the rock that had released from the cliff above, she thought she she was going to die.
"It looked like a multi-storey building — a huge slab of rock," she said. "And I just saw it dropping and I think my instant thought was, 'I can't survive that.'"
"So, without hesitation, I just turned and grabbed my open backpack by the fabric — I had my camera in my hand and my dogs — and I just ran as fast as I could away from it downhill, as fast as my legs would carry me, which wasn't fast enough because I fell," Jackson recounted.
"I got back up, kept running, dropped my bag, and just started dropping stuff and I was thinking of just letting go of the leashes and hoping that my dogs could escape and that we would be OK."
One rock hit her in the back of the arm, but did minimal damage. She kept running, peeking back at the dust cloud forming behind her, unsure if any more rocks would fly out from the grey haze.
"When I got a far enough away, to a safe distance, I stopped and actually snapped a couple pictures because I still had my camera in my hand somehow," she said.
"Once everything settled and the rocks weren't really rolling anymore, I could hear people screaming and yelling and I just ran back and tried to start helping people."
Jackson and others in the area, all strangers to her, teamed up and spent more than an hour tending to the most severely injured people, before the first helicopter arrived.
Their first task, she said, was triaging the injured and trying to move them as far from the cliffs as possible.
"People were just in shock," Jackson said. "So I said, 'You have to get out of here. We have to move downslope, away from the rockfall, because this could happen again.'"
A photo of Bow Glacier Falls taken by a hiker shortly after a large section of rock fell from the cliffs beside it on June 19, 2025. The hiker said the section that fell is to the right of the falls in this image. (Contributed by Niclas Brundell)
They managed to get three people away from the cliffs and wrapped them in emergency blankets to keep them warm while they waited for trained emergency responders to arrive.
She said the wait was "agonizing," as there was little more they could do to help the wounded.
"I just was going from person to person just to check to see how they were doing and somebody always had somebody with them, talking to them and trying to comfort them," Jackson said.
"Then there were a few people walking around and I think just the shock was starting to set in. I could tell some people were blaming themselves and just not dealing with it too well."
Bow Lake re-opens
Bow Glacier Falls is located about three kilometres to the southwest of Bow Lake and is accessible via a popular hiking trail.
It is also along the route to Bow Hut, a large backcountry shelter operated by the Alpine Club of Canada.
Parks Canada said Bow Lake and the trail to Bow Hut had reopened as of Friday morning, but Bow Glacier Falls remains closed to all visitors.
A no-fly zone remains in place.
"Alpine Club of Canada guests staying at Bow Hut are safe. Visitors staying at Bow Hut will be able to exit on schedule via the usual route, which is unaffected and safe to travel," the release said.
The Icefields Parkway (Highway 93N) remains open with possible intermittent, short-term traffic stoppages in the vicinity of the incident.
This article, written by Robson Fletcher, was originally published for CBC News. With files from Amir Said, the Calgary Eyeopener and The Canadian Press