| On December 9, 1956 a four-engine DC-4 crashed onto the east side of the summit pinnacle killing all 62 people on board. Because of the severe and then-remote terrain and the thick snows on the Cascades that winter, the wreckage was not found until May 1957 when a group of climbers stumbled upon a navigation map; soon after other relics and remains were found, many months after the flight ceased radio communications and was lost. The area proved too rugged to recover any bodies or wreckage and some is still scattered across the cirques below the peak's east face. The site is now protected by commemorative legislation as a result of the activities of the Families of Slesse organization, who were concerned about inroads by logging operations and souvenir-hunters.
Name Notes: The name "Slesse" is the native name for the peak, and comes from the Halqemeylem word Selóysi, meaning "fang" - obviously very descriptive from nearly any angle. |
