Blasting began above the Okanagan's Highway 97 Wednesday in a series of tests that may pave the way for more blasts to open the blocked road.
Some 125 kilograms of explosives were designed to test how the rock face responded to a disturbance, said officials.
"That will give us confidence if we can shake the slope up a bit and then put drills on top of it and it will increase our confidence level so we can do some production level blasting," said Mike Oliver of the Ministry of Highways.
The highway has remained closed since the weekend after a huge crack appeared above the site of a highway widening project.
A mass of rock moved eight millimetres on Tuesday night, after moving some 15 millimetres Monday.
Officials are concerned that if the highway is allowed to open, the rock could fall on the cars below.
But if the rock responds well to the blasting, that means that crews can use more explosives.
The impact of the road closure has hit the communities around the highway hard as many can't drive to nearby centres, and truck traffic has been forced into expensive detours.
A mountain goat fell into the big crack at the top of the mass -- but was saved by some helpful rock-scalers, who went in and held him still. After a drink of water, he was on his way.
People who depend on the highway, and are frustrated about the closure, say the bigger the explosions, the better.
Traffic is being routed via highways 97C, 5A, 3 and 3A, and Okanagan Falls Forest Service Road to Highway 33 is now available.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Kent Molgat
