Slide video scaring off people from Big Sur

The Big Sur Chamber of Commerce is trying to get the word out that Big Sur is open and in good condition, despite video of the massive Mud Creek Slide that has been seen around the world.

“So people are seeing this and I’m hearing that people are cancelling reservations,” Stan Russell, executive director of the Big Sur Chamber of Commerce, told KION. “It’s scared them off from Big Sur.”

This despite the fact that the Mud Creek Slide, near the town of Gorda, is about 40 miles south of Big Sur. Highway 1 is open north of construction near Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge, just south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.

Visitors from Southern California are definitely impacted as Highway 1 is closed at Ragged Point. That means instead of driving along the stunning coastal route into the Big Sur area, determined visitors from the south must take Highway 101.

KION checked in with Fernwood Resort Friday afternoon. Diana Ballantyne, Fernwood’s general manager, said she’s been getting calls and texts from family from the East Coast and as far away as Norway asking if she’s okay since the landslide made the news around the world. “Unfortunately, the headlines are a little misleading,” she said, adding that many people are under the impression that Big Sur was directly hit by the slide.

Ballantyne says she’s concerned about mid-week bookings. “We’re still only running 50% of normal because of people not understanding that Big Sur is open.”

More than 40 feet of rock and debris cover a large stretch of Highway 1 after the hillside gave way after being pounded by winter storms. Five million tons of debris have slid into the shore.

KION reporter Linda Zhang toured the mud slide on Thursday. Click HERE to read that story.

To find out what’s open in the Big Sur area, click HERE.