8 WILD COAST MAGAZINE SUMMER/FALL 20158 WILD COAST MAGAZINE
SUMMER 2015
FRoMtoseA
vancouver coaST & MounTain Sea To SKY Trail bY STephen
hui
ThE uppER ShANNON FALLS Trail used to be a sleepy hike ignored
by most visitors to Stawamus Chief Provincial Park. Over the past
year, however, this path has drawn a stampede of hikers and trail
runners to its waterfalls and viewpoints overlooking Howe
Sound.
Thats because it is now part of the Sea to Summit Trail,
Squamishs answer to the crowded Grouse Grind on Vancouvers North
Shore. In three to five hours, hikers ascend 918 metres over 8.9
kilometres, from the base of the new Sea to Sky Gondola to its
top.
Stphane Perron works as lead guide and trail patroller for the
$22-million gondola, which opened on May 16, 2014. He is also
president of the Squamish Trails Society, and so meets many of
these hikers as part of his work.
You can always tell someone who has just come up the Sea to
Summit Trail, Perron says. Theyll usually be either quite sweaty or
muddy or sometimes with a dog. Thats the other clue, because thats
the only trail where youre allowed dogs.
Though just in its second year of operation, the Sea to Sky
Gondola has already become a major draw for adventure lovers in a
municipality widely considered as the Outdoor Recreation Capital of
Canada. Lying between the granite cliffs of the Stawamus Chief and
Shannon Falls, the gondola rises from its base off the Sea to Sky
Highway to an elevation of 885 metres on the ridge northwest of
Mount Habrich. Its a glorious 10-minute ride in one of the
eight-passenger cabins.
Up top, visitors will find the Summit Lodge, with its
restaurant, bar, caf, gift shop and patio. A 100-metre-long,
65-metre-high suspension
Squamish Harbour and Sky Pilot Suspension Bridge.
10 WILD COAST MAGAZINE SUMMER/FALL 2015
vancouver coaST & MounTain
LESLEY WEEKS, executive director of Tourism Squamish, says the
Sea to Sky Gondola has made the mountains more accessible to people
of all ages and abilities. She took her parents, who are both in
their 70s, and her three-year-old son on the Wonderland Lake Loop,
a 1.6-kilometre hike.
There is no way I would be able to get my parents and young son
up into the alpine to experience the views and trails without
having the Sea to Sky Gondola for access, Weeks says. It is so
fantastic to see multiple generations out enjoying the trails
together.
For Perrons part, his favourite hike at the gondola is Als
Habrich Ridge Trail. This 11.6-kilometre round trip takes hikers
over rocky ground and through forest, paying off with grand
Squamish Valley views.
Its not too technically difficult, Perron says. You get rewards
early on. It doesnt really matter how far you get. You will have a
rewarding time. And you can go for a long time if you want.
Meanwhile, the Skyline Ridge Trail is the lengthiest hike so far
available to gondola visitors. Involving a 19-kilometre round trip,
this trail heads up the ridge between the Sky Pilot massif and Goat
Ridge. Future plans call for it to be linked with the Sky Pilot
Valley Trail, currently a 10-kilometre round trip, to form an epic
alpine loop.
The Skyline Ridge Trail features several alpine lakes known as
tarns.
Its not technical, so you dont need any special skills. This
truly is just a hike. But its my second choice, because you need a
full day to enjoy that one, Perron says
For mountaineers and ski tourers, the gondola has made it easier
to access the backcountry around Goat Ridge, Mount Habrich and Sky
Pilot Mountain.
Its really been about access, Weeks says. Before the gondola, it
would have taken hours to reach some of the backcountry currently
being explored.
Last September, the Coast Mountain Trail Series put on its Sky
Pilot race at the gondola. The running competition returns this
year on Sept. with challenging 14-kilometre and 22-kilometre
routes.
FOR TREVOR DuNN, general manager and founding partner of Sea to
Sky Gondola Corporation, the past year represents a sensational
start. He says hes proud that the gondola is helping people to see
the Sea to
Sky corridor in a whole new light.Dunn says the company had
projected
between 200,000 and 300,000 visits in its first year and is
ahead of that.
In May, the gondola kicked off its second summer season. Day
tickets cost $35.95 for adults, $33.95 for seniors, $23.95 for
youths, and $13.95 for children age 6-12. There is a $2 discount
for tickets bought online, and kids five and under are free.
Summer-season passes cost $109 for adults and $274 for families
of two adults and two children.
Dunn promises that a new via ferrata (Italian for iron road)
will offer adventure seekers quite a thrilling experience.
With a fixed cable and built-in aids, this route will allow
people without climbing experience to clamber up the rocks below
the Summit Lodge and over to the suspension bridge for an elevation
gain of 100 metres. Like the one on Whistler Mountain, the gondolas
via ferrata will be offered as a guided tour involving an
additional fee.
Basically, it gives the experience of rock climbing without the
risk of falling, Dunn says. Youre continually tied into a fixed
line.
While there are currently no mountain biking trails at the
gondola, that could change in 2016 as the company enters the early
planning stages for routes.
One of the things that we know is that Squamish is one of the
world-class mountain-bike destinations, and if you do anything, you
have to make sure it is world-class, Dunn says.
So we want to make sure that we are able to do that.
One problem is deciding where the mountain-biking trails would
be located.
We definitely want to make sure that, if we do it, that we put
it in a place that makes sense for all different users, so were not
having conflicts with hikers or walkers, he says. All those factors
have to be built into the plan.
pROpOSED IN 2011, the Sea to Sky Gondola stirred controversy
after it came to light that its developers had applied to remove a
2.36-hectare strip from Stawamus Chief Provincial Park. After the
legislature passed a bill rejigging the boundaries of the park in
2012, the B.C. Liberal government redesignated the 20-metre-wide
gondola corridor as the Stawamus Chief Protected Area.
The gondolas base sits on private property, and the
upper-terminal area lies on Crown land outside the park. The
Squamish Nation, Squamish-Lillooet Regional District and District
of Squamish also approved the project before construction began in
2013.
B.C. Parks has installed trail counters and observed some
changes in the usage of Stawamus Chief Provincial Park since the
gondola opened. While many more hikers are ascending the Upper
Shannon Falls Trail, as part of the Sea to Summit Trail, slightly
less are going up the back of the Chief, though this remains a
popular hike.
The summit lodge.
Paul
Brid
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oto/
Tour
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quam
ish
SUMMER/FALL 2015 WILD COAST MAGAZINE 11
Sea To SKY Trail
The ministry also reports that visitors are parking in the park
parking lots for longer periods. Parking at the gondola base is
limited to three hours. The gondolas overflow lot across the
highway from Shannon Falls Provincial Park accommodates longer-term
parking but requires a 10-minute walk or a shuttle to the base.
Meanwhile, Perron believes that the gondola will attract trail
builders from Vancouver, Squamish, and Whistler, which could
eventually result in the construction of a hiking trail connecting
the North Shore and Squamish.
In Cypress Provincial Park, the Howe Sound Crest Trail already
stretches 29 kilometres from the Cypress Mountain ski area to just
south of Porteau Cove Provincial Park, located south of Squamish
along the Sea to Sky Highway. Perron would like to see this rugged
trail
extended north to the top of the gondola.It would be quite a
project, Perron says.
The Howe Sound Crest Trail is indeed one continuous crest. To
bring it all the way there to Squamish, it does indeed have to go
down some significant valleys at Britannia and Furry
Creek, for instance. But I know Im not the only one who has
thought of this.
Stephen Hui is a journalist, photographer, and hiker living in
Vancouver. Follow him on
Twitter and Instagram: @stephenhui.
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