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Status: No access restrictions.
The Grand Wall Boulders:
As highway related work at the Chief "gateway" begins in 2007, the scenario between the current Chief parking lot and the Apron parking lot / Mamquam FSR entrance will unfold. Depending on whether the highway expansion happens on the east or west side, the effect on the The Dump, Drive-by-Boulders and Desire boulder is as yet unknown. We have been informed that more information will most likely be available in the March/April 2007 time frame. For more information about upcoming changes to access at the Chief boulders, see The Chief news section
The wind storms which hit the South-West coast in the fall/winter of 2006 seemed to leave the Grand Wall Boulder main corridors (Grand Wall trail and main trail between Superfly and Titanic) relatively unscathed from tree-fall. There is minor branch-debris, which should be cleared up pretty quickly. A further note, unrelated to the storms, is the additional reminder (perhaps one of several) posted at the entrance of the trail to Black Dyke that dogs are to be kept on leashes within the park except on the Chief Peaks Trail on the backside.
The recent considerable amount of snow left the Conroy Creek Forest Service Road blocked by plow debris. Parking even at the side of highway was difficult. The gravel pit opposite The Rehab Project and Ripple Tower now serves as the new salt-shed for the highway maintenance crews. Parking there is allowed for Ripple Tower, The Rehab. or Pleasure Dome, etc... during the winter months. Please leave space for trucks to enter and exit.
Present Parking / Entrance:
The Sea to Sky Improvements website shows the current conceptual plan of how the Chief gateway will look once the highway work being planned is done (along with additional plans for Murrin Provincial Park and Shannon Falls Provincial Park). To note are the protected T interchange to get in and out from both directions, increased parking, and the interface with the Malamute side of the highway.
Status: access restored; access changed.
On Dec. 11th the SAS met with representatives of the Ministry of Transportation and the highway work contractor; in subsequent emails it was confirmed that the access ramp would be paved by late June 2007 and efforts would be made, at a minimum, to construct and grade a gravel entrance for the interim time period. As of Jan. 3, 2007, the SAS is pleased to report that access to Comic Rocks has been restored; one can enter and park in the same location as the old entrance, via a gravel pullout (coming from the South; see news).
Status: No access restrictions; highway construction in area.
Spring 2007 should see the completion of the new highway lanes at the north-end of canyon. The access situation to Nightmare Rock which was affected by blasting throughout 2006 should be normalized by early Spring 2007. The temporary third lane through the canyon which is planned for the Olympics will not be constructed until 2009. The southbound turnoff lane for which some trees have already been cleared will be finished around the same time as the Olympic lane. No physical danger to the Lost Boulders area along the west side of the highway is currently foreseen.
Status: Closed until highway-work blasting is complete (target date: May 2007)
On December 11th, 2006, the SAS met with representatives of the Ministry of Transportation and the highway work contractor regarding ongoing work at the Papoose. While the Papoose has remained nominally open since work began, the schedule of blasting has led to unpredictable timeframes in which the crag would be open for climbers. The signage which the contractor had been posting was at times confusing and contradictory. There is a real physical threat to climbers being anywhere near the Papoose during blasting: the access path is directly adjacent to current blasting work, and blasting is occuring at the south end as well, out of sight of the access path entrance. It was agreed that the best interim solution would be to have climbers adhere to a voluntary closure until the blasting schedule became more predictable or when the blasting was done.
Status: no access restrictions; changed parking and access.
The highway work in the Rogues Gallery area is finally complete. There are still three lanes, two northbound and one southbound, separated by a rumble strip (no concrete barriers). The parking situation is significantly altered. There is a gravel pullout just under the crags on the east side of the road, as before, but the sightlines for scoping northbound traffic are now very poor and this is not a safe place to park.
Status: No closures; trail damage and trail work.
The three-year process of creating a governance, management, and legal framework to establish the Smoke Bluffs as the showcase Municipal Park for Squamish passed an important stage on December 5th when Squamish Council approved the Development Plan prepared by the Planning Group. Coming up in January Squamish Council will be approving a By-law to establish the governance group and by February or March the new Smoke Bluff Park Committee should be at work with a lengthy to-do list as spelled out in the development plan.
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