Northern BC 2013/2014 Stoke, Conditions

[swissiphic]

Nice work AP! Skied a nice line up at wesach yesterday, a friend's party skied in the Howson's saturday....the northwest summer skiing is going off!

[Angle Parking]

Nice work AP! Skied a nice line up at wesach yesterday, a friend's party skied in the Howson's saturday....the northwest summer skiing is going off!

How was the snow at Wesach. How long do you think it will last?

[swissiphic]

Snow was 10-15cms of mush on a progressively denser base in steep N quadrant terrain from 6500 feet down to 5500 feet then transitioned to very nice classic smooth corn down to 4500 feet. From there to end of snow at 3800 feet, the snow was sun softened sun cups. Surface snow was sluffing fast in the upper elevation schmooey stuff. Snowpack isn't very deep but has been well preserved up to now by the cool spring temps. There was a pretty dramatic loss of snow depth at bottom 2/3 elevation of ski zone in the past week...I fear that if we do have a return of true summer conditions with lack of overnight refreeze, the skiing will be done in about a month or so. In a 'normal' average year, there's turns available year round.

[blender]

Not sketchy, opposite really. That zone is a performer and has performed this year in that exact spot. Bottom of the snowpack is weak. Massive hang fire. Frozen, rock hard conditions are acceptable, all things considered. Ski wise, no edges were lost. Had to reign it in is all. Reality TV for ski dads. Door to door, it was 3.5 hour gig, and that's stopping for coffee twice. Back home at 10:35 on a Sunday morn with Timbits and a latte for the Mrs.

Just another day on TGR...
Nice work.

[Angle Parking]

. In a 'normal' average year, there's turns available year round.

I like the quotation marks around 'normal'. Not sure what 'normal' is anymore myself. I guess we just have to keep skiing and hope for an ice age.

[swissiphic]

I'm not so concerned about a string of sub par ski seasons...gotta remember that pre 2013, there were only a few skunkers looking back to the late 80's...notably 2002/3, 2004/5 (?), 2010....but having lived in rupert pre 2000, I recall many a seasons where mt. hays had a series of years of unskiability, then, seasons came on strong in the early 90's and i believe early 2000's to 2008...in fact, 2008 had the longest record breaker for skiable snow to low elevation where we made top to ski hill bottom runs on summer solstice.

Sure, we've had a string of just plain weird winters but I think we can reserve judgement of fear of apocalyptic trend for a few more decades. Only then can we look in the rearview and say, Yup, 2013 was the beginning of the end.

Last winter was actually pretty solid around Terrace and I think Stewart...maybe not the biggest widespread snowfall season (Wesach was well below average) but some zones had very healthy snowpacks into the 450cms range at treeline and the season was long and pretty cold aside from a series of warm storms. Rupert experienced a phenomenal March with healthy skiable snowpack up on mt hays and in town that made the town look more like a winter Nelson than the temperature coastal rain sogged locale that it usually is. Based on the cold sea surface temps offshore that have been persistent throughout the spring into nowish (we'll see what happens with them into the winter), I personally have an optimistic outlook for the coming winter.

[XXX-er]

its not like you paid for a ski season and it didnt deliver, life is a box of chocolates with no map in the lid ...you never know what you gona get

[Angle Parking]

As per usual Sweeney delivers.

[XXX-er]

awesume ! how was the snow looks same as always, did you camp high, how did the situation with the mine owner work out ?

I went to burns lake mtn biking with my son and there was actualy a big crew of smithereens with small kids

[Angle Parking]

Snow was good. That place always delivers. Lots of snow on the main bowl which is all we skied. The pic at the beginning of the vid is from the last trip we did with Craig and Nick. Bowl was fully covered and zero ice was visible anywhere.

Situation with the mine owner is very, very weird. Keith sees him around and talks to him. He sent him an email asking if we could go and apparently the response was ambiguous. Not saying no but not saying yes either. There is a gate now which means you are walking from the camp. It's only an extra 45 minutes but that's still a big bummer. Increased No Trespassing signage and two trees had been dropped across the road lower down the road as well. They had orange spray paint on them saying 'keep out' an 'not a ski resort' across them. So basically the weirdness dial got turned up a couple notches.

[XXX-er]

So now you have to get out and walk thru the camp instead of driving thru without stopping which makes less sense, based on that response I wonder how much say the mine owner has on the tenure and we are walking up an acess road to the repeater station ??

in any case I think motorheads from Houston and the huckleberry mine are his problem not skiers

we should do some biking now that schools out

[swissiphic]

Awesome to see you got skiing, looks like some pretty decent fingers of snow going down pretty low? Not so awesome to hear about the access issues....if diplomacy isn't effective, what else can be done to get that road drivable to the ridge again? Like, can the mine guy legally do what he's doing to block access or is he just rednecking it with the trees and gate? In the past, that feature of being able to drive to ridgetop and drop in skiing from tailgate is pretty much the reason to drive to sweeney versus skiing terrace locally at wesach with the 45 minutes approach hike...other than the beautiful drive, awesome camping at the lake, the good company and good cheer, stunning views, and awesome skiing on the goat and mr. sluffaluffagus; with that feature of drive to ridge access sweeney skiing temporarily in the rear view mirror, that might be the end of the raison d'etre of the sweeney skixperience for this terracite...

[swissiphic]

By the way, a few days late but Happy belated Canada Day! Hosted the inaugural canada day bike parade through terrace instead of skiing but I salute you guys for the turns.

[XXX-er]

hey guido you should post your o-canada vid on the canada thread

[swissiphic]

canada thread? will search.

[garyfromterrace]

Damn AP. Access getting weird indeed. XXX is referring to the "this week in Canada" thread.

[XXX-er]

It sure would be nice to drive all the way to snow which we did a couple years ago

Guido did find the thread and posted his own rendition of oh Canada

[BCMtnHound]

So now you have to get out and walk thru the camp instead of driving thru without stopping which makes less sense, based on that response I wonder how much say the mine owner has on the tenure and we are walking up an acess road to the repeater station ??

in any case I think motorheads from Houston and the huckleberry mine are his problem not skiers

The mine surveyed lots (long term leases vs a short term unsurveyed license of occupation) under the Land Act can restrict all access through the tenure, including the access road even if it accesses other infrastructure. The owner of the communication site can negotiate access with some authority, but the public is generally out of luck. Worksafe BC would also demand that public access be restricted for safety reasons depending on the mine improvements, or the tenure holder would face full liability.

[XXX-er]

So really he can restrict access but he is almost never there, I have only met him once back in the reasonable days so its pretty hard to enforce

you used work safe and mine in the same sentence I believe worksafe does not apply to the mines act so they can fuck over the miners

[BCMtnHound]

You are right, because of the engineering speciality of the improvements, only a certified mines inspector, rated for the type of mine, can enforce the Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines. Most of the high level mines inspectors are from Sudbury, ON

Worksafe can enforce its statutes on the access structures leading into the mine, and the camp structures/operations like the cook and bunkhouses, etc., not directly involved with the mine operations.

[XXX-er]

Yeah you don't want somebody dropping the soap and slipping in the shower but its ok if there is no mountain safety plan and a worker is killed by an aviy

And how about that mnt Polley dam break, that was fucking criminal but nobody went to jail and nothing much happened

Common BCMH the mines act in BC is an archaic joke the purpose of which is to make it easier for the company to make money without regard for the safety of workers or taking care of the environment

[BCMtnHound]

Hey, not arguing that mines are a black hole with respect to many human and environmental considerations. I had an opportunity to get into reclamation some years ago but declined - must have been all the stories growing up from my father telling of the family history in the coal mines of the Ruhr Valley; he escaped to the sea.

Like I mentioned, depending on the mine, only a certain level of inspector can conduct the inspection. Funding and other politics prevents BC from having mines inspectors with the certification needed to enforce the laws for many of the provinces operations. Not by accident either, I suspect. It's a sad fact that only 1st nations have any clout when it comes to holding these companies to account - and even then it's a very dirty game

[XXX-er]

Had a local bud who was a short timer mine inspector quit in complete disgust, I got him going at the bar after a few beer and he gave me an earfull on the subject

also had a bud not come home ... its shit

[LHutz Esq]

On the access issue - When certain nameless Smithereens did some access improvements using the the Davidson/Blue Pearl mine road, warning letters were left on their vehicle.

Interestingly - a certain MLA had brought a private members bill to deal with these issues. It went no where as he had no clout with the Clark government.

He may have a bit more sway now:
http://www.bcgreens.ca/weaver_introd...ht_to_roam_act

His issue was more with private forest lands and the Douglas Lake Cattle Co. types. However, it seems apt to discuss with Mining Leases. A Lease can be for up to 30 years. The Davidson project is a good example of a project that's only real goal is to mine people's pockets. Until the BV is willing to accept tailings run-off being piped into the Bulkley (so never), or they come up with much better technology - this project is going exactly no where. In the mean time, they seem to think that this should keep recreationalists from accessing that Crown Land and the skiing potential above it.

If they were actively using a portion of it - I would understand closing it off for safety reasons. Or if a portion was deemed dangerous because of un-remediated shafts or something. But to just hold it and say no? - I am drafting a nice letter to Mr. Weaver and our local MLA.

[swissiphic]

Thanks for the feedback, all. It's been darkly illuminating to learn about the various factors impeding recreationalist access to crown land over mine leases/properties.... My great hope of exploiting the incredible potential winter/summer access to alpine via the Brucejack mine access road/glacier road, the burgeoning red mountain project just outside of stewart, and further develpments north of brucejack...the hope is now dimmed....

For the legal types, are there potentially any legal loopholes that can be applied here so we can gain access? Are there any precedents from other court case templates that can help? Are there any angles that can legally be employed to challenge the mines act/individual operators? ..... or, moving forward in a diplomatic fashion, does each individual mine manager have the authority to grant passage to interested parties who write a letter?