7/17/2019 Sea to Sky Gondola feature
1/2MARCH 15 22 / 2012 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 25
SPRING ADVENTURE
> BY STEPHEN HUI
Kevin McLane has beenscaling the StawamusChie or decades. By
hisown estimation, hes done
hundreds o rock climbs on the702-metre-high granite
monolithsworld-amous cli ffs.
In the midst o working on a newedition o Te Climbers Guide
toSquamish, McLane recalled a ailed2004 proposal to build a
sightseeinggondola to the top o the landmarkssecond peak. Te
coounder o theSquamish Access Society told theGeorgia Straightthat
the outcry romlocal residents, as well as climbersand hikers rom
across British Co-lumbia, was deaening.
One thing that really, really dugdeep into a lot o people was t
he ideao steel being boltedwires and steelbeing pounded and
boltedall theway up to the top o the Chie whenyou can actually walk
up not thatdifficult, McLane said by phonerom his downtown Squamish
home,which looks out at the Chie.
Now, a new gondola project hasSquamish residents and
outdoor-recreation enthusiasts talking. Seato Sky Gondola Corp. is
proposingto build a gondola rising 820 metresrom a base between the
Chie andShannon Falls to the wooded ridgenorthwest o Mount
Habrich.
But although its clear to everyonethe gondola would slice
through thesouthern reaches o Stawamus Chie
Provincial Parkthough not up theChie itselmany onlookers are
un-aware the proponent applied in De-cember to permanently remove
landrom the park to build it.
Sea to Sky envisions 100,000 to400,000 tourists, locals, and
outdoorsenthusiasts a year paying up to $30 totake a seven-minute
ride to the gon-dolas upper terminal. Te Squamish-based company,
whose principals areormer Intrawest executives DavidGreenfield and
revor Dunn, says itsacilities would be barely visible romthe Chie
and downtown Squamishbut would deliver spectacular viewso Howe
Sound, Mount Garibaldi,and Sky Pilot Mountain.
Located on a ormer gravel pitalong Highway 99, the gondola
basewould eature ree public parkingand washrooms, along with a
ticketoffice, coffee shop, and gif shop, andtrail connections to
Stawamus Chieand Shannon Falls provincial parks.At the top, a
previously logged area,visitors would find a day lodge
andinterpretive centrewith a restau-rant, theatre, gif shop, and
guest ser-vicesand trails offering viewpoints,as well as access to
hiking, snowshoe-ing, ski touring, mountaineering,rock- and
ice-climbing, and moun-tain biking in the backcountry.
Greenfield told the Straight thegondola is targeted at the
almost500,000 people who visit the Chie
and Shannon Falls parks every year.
According to him, the first phase othe project would cost $15
mil lion to$20 million. Sea to Sky hopes to startconstruction in
September and openthe gondola on July 1, 2013.
oday, Squamish is missing whatwe call a key piece o tourism
inra-structure, Greenfield said by phonerom his home office in
Whistler. Itsgot some great natural amenities thatcater nicely to
the more high-intensitysportsrock-climbing, kite-boarding,mountain
biking, things o that na-turebut they dont have somethingwhich
provides a little easier accessand mechanism or people who
dontnecessarily have the skills or the abili-ties to be able to get
up into the alpine.
So i we can offer something or
the more broad-based tourists, thenwe can hold them in Squamish
ora couple hours, he added. Teyrenow more inclined to be looking
orplaces to eat and stay and shop withinSquamish itsel. So theres
going to bea lot o indirect benefits that are likelygoing to flow
into the community as aresult o something like this.
On February 7, District o Squamishcouncil unanimously gave final
ap-proval to rezoning the 2.5-hectarebase property and amending the
o-ficial community plan to allow devel-opment o the lower
terminal.
DISTRICT OF SQUAMISH coun-cillor Patricia Heintzman told
theStraight that Sea to Sky will have toobtain building and
development
permits beore starting construction.Heintzman, whos also the
vice chairo the Squamish-Lillooet RegionalDistrict, admitted she
didnt knowabout the companys application tochange the boundaries o
StawamusChie Provincial Park but said shedidnt think it was
problematic.
I think its been very loud and clearin our community that theres
the oddvoice o concern out there but generallyoverwhelming support
or the project,Heintzman said by phone rom herhome in Paradise
Valley. So I thinkthe towns looking orward to it.
Although the base sits in the Dis-trict o Squamish, the
860-metre-high,68-hectare upper-terminal site lies onCrown land in
the SLRDs ElectoralArea D. On February 27, the SLRDboard o
directors gave first readingto bylaws to rezone the land and
alterthe official community plan. Sea toSky also requires approvals
rom B.C.Parks and the Ministry o Forests,Lands, and Natural
Resource Opera-tions to go ahead with the gondola.
Electoral Area D director MoeFreitag is the ormer president o
theSquamish Chamber o Commerce,which, along with the
DowntownSquamish Business ImprovementAssociation and ourism
Squamish,ormally supports the project.
Its in the public process now andwe look orward to hearing back
romthe proponent and trying to make
sure that we keep an open mind,
Freitag told the Straight by phonerom Whistler. We look orward
toworking with our neighbouring mu-nicipality, Squamish, and doing
theright thingwhatever that may be.
IN THE WAKEo the deeated 2004gondola proposal by
Whistler-baseddevelopers Peter Alder and PaulMathews, the Land
Conservancyo B.C. wanted to ensure that u-ture developments didnt
target theStawamus Chie. So the Victoria-based nonprofit bought the
projectsplanned base, the gravel pit betweenHighway 99 and Stawamus
ChieProvincial Park, or $900,000.
On February 8, LC sold the landto Sea to Sky Gondola Corp.
or
$2 million. A covenant prohibits thenew owner rom using the
propertyor a gondola that goes up the Chieor terminates in Stawamus
Chie orShannon Falls provincial park.
Reached by phone, LC execu-tive director Bill urner said hehad
hoped the land would be addedto the Chie park but B.C. Parksdidnt
have the money to acquire it.He sounded taken aback when
theStraightinormed him o Sea to Skyspark-removal application.
Well, I wouldnt want them to bedoing that, urner said rom
thesawwassen erry terminal. But thatwould be an issue or B.C. Parks
to dealwith. We cant control that with ourcovenant. I guess i B.C.
Parks agreed,I guess thats up to B.C. Parks. I wasnt
aware that they were going to try andremove a corridor there at
all.
Brandin Schultz, South Coast re-gional manager or B.C. Parks,
toldthe Straight that Sea to Sky has ap-plied or both a
park-boundary ad-justment and a park-use permit.Te boundary
amendment pertainsto a one-kilometre-long, 20-metre-wide corridor.
Tis would removetwo hectares o the Chie parks 517hectares so seven
o the gondolas 12towers could be installed by helicop-ter on what
is now Class A parkland.
Based on the classification othe park, it would be difficult
tojustiy the construction o the tow-ers, Schultz said by phone rom
hisNorth Vancouver office. So werejust reclassiying a 20-metre
corridorto a protected area that does allow orthings like that,
like power lines orgondola structures, in this case.
Greenfield noted that the companyaims to minimize the
disturbance tothe park by cutting down as ew treesas possible in
the gondola right o way.
In working with [B.C.] Parks,were being very careul to try
andlocate those towers in places wherewere going to minimize any
envi-ronmental impacts, Greenfield said.Its quite rocky, the
terrain, as youmove up the slope. All o the currenttower locations
that weve selected siton rock outcrops.
see page 27
The panoramic view from Upper Shannon Falls in Squamishs
Stawamus Chief Provincial Park. Stephen Hui photo.
Gondola to split Chief park
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7/17/2019 Sea to Sky Gondola feature
2/2MARCH 15 22 / 2012 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 27
According to Schultz, B.C. Parkshasnt identified any concerns
re-garding the park-adjustment pro-posal. He said B.C. Parks
doesntplan to hold public meetings aboutthe application because Sea
to Skyhas already consulted with manystakeholders on the
project.
However, at time o writing, thewebsites o Sea to Sky and the
Chiepark say nothing about the proposedremoval o parkland.
Gwen Barlee, policy director or
the Wilderness Committee, sees par-allels between the Chie
applicationand a proposal to remove land romPinecone Burke
Provincial Park ora power line, which was rejected in2008 by the
B.C. government afer amassive public outcry.
It would split the park in hal,Barlee told the Straight by
phonerom the environmental groupsGastown office. We dont like
theprecedent it sets. Parks were cre-ated or a purpose, and that
was toprotect them rom development. So,we would not be in support o
hav-ing several towers built within parkboundaries at all.
B.C. minister o environment erryLake was unavailable or an
inter-view, according to his staff. Remov-
ing land rom the Chie park requiresthe approval o the minister,
cabinet,and the legislative a ssembly.
Te Squamish Nation has a spiri-tual connection to the Chie,
whosetraditional name is Siym Smnit.Chie Ian Campbell told the
Straightthe First Nation is working towardinking an
impact-and-benefit agree-ment with Sea to Sky or the
gondolaproject, which lies in the heart o itsterritory. He noted
the project wouldshowcase his peoples culture and hewelcomes its
estimated 30 to 60 jobs.
Many o our members commuteto Whistler and other areas, whichis
hard on their time and away romtheir amilies, Campbell said byphone
rom his North Vancouver
office. So having something rightthere seemed to be appealing
tomany o our younger members thatwould like to be out on the land
andworking in those types o areas.
IF THE SEA TO SKY GONDOLAisbuilt, riders in its eight-passenger
en-closed cabins will see 335-metre-highShannon Falls as they are
whiskedup to the top terminal. From the daylodge, theyll take in
the views ona one-kilometre-long, wheelchair-accessible loop
trail.
Sea to Sky is also proposing an alpinetrail, which would give
climbers andhikers easier access to Mount Habrich,Sky Pilot
Mountain, and Goat Ridge. Ahigh intensity trail would allow hik-ers
to ascend rom the base to the top
and then ride the gondola back down,like the Grouse Grind.
According to Greenfield, the gon-dola would operate during
daylighthours all year, though perhaps onlyon weekends during the
low season.He said Sea to Sky is considering o-ering discount-rate
programs simi-lar to Whistler Blackcombs Spirit
Pass and Edge Card or Squamishresidents and requent riders.
Author and climber McLane be-lieves the gondola will give
back-country users a big reason to come toSquamish.
I really do believe that this couldbe an amazing catalyst or
alpinehiking, said McLane, who verystrongly supports the
project.
But Scott Webster, president othe Federation o Mountain Clubs
oB.C.the umbrella group or hikers,climbers, mountaineers,
backcoun-try skiers, and snowshoerstold
the Straight his organization wouldbe, at best, neutral on the
project.Although the speedy alpine accessand Squamish Grind are
attrac-tive possibilities, the PhD candidatein physics at the
University o Briti shColumbia worries about the impacto increased
use on the lower por-tions o the Chie Peaks and UpperShannon Falls
trails, which wouldeed into the high intensity trail.
A lot o commercial operationshave a certain plan to start with,
andover time they change their plan,Webster said in a coffee shop
nearhis Vancouver home. So I wouldbe concerned about them wantingto
expand their operation in the u-ture, say into some o the parks.
Tat
would be entirely unacceptable, inmy opinion. But once a project
isbuilt, it seems li ke theres a lot less orthem to go through in
order to actu-ally do something like that.
Like McLane, Anders Ourom saton both the study team that
recom-mended the creation o StawamusChie Provincial Park and the
citi-zens advisory committee t hat helpeddraw up the parks
management planin the 1990s. Te ormer president othe Climbers
Access Society o B.C.helped lead the opposition to the2004 gondola
proposal.
Ourom told the Straight that itsquite possible the new gondola
plancould compromise park values. Al-though hes not completely
opposedto the proposal, he said he doubts
hell use the gondola i its built.Its the sort o thing where
it
might make sense, but it deserves areally, really hard look,
Ourom saidby phone rom his Vancouver homeoffice. I think its up to
the propo-nent to show that, yes, balancing allthe actors, its a
benefit to the parkand the public.-
Gondolafrom page 25
Kevin McLane is a strong proponent
of the planned Sea to Sky Gondola.
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