Habrich - Life on Earth - Conditions?

[AdiNone]

We are thinking of giving LOE a try this coming weekend.

Does anybody have any recent updates on approach and this route?

Thanks!
Adrian

[jessejames]

We are thinking of giving LOE a try this coming weekend.

Does anybody have any recent updates on approach and this route?

Thanks!
Adrian

You can drive almost all the way to the Habrich campsite. There's a security guard up there who takes a picture of your car, but he'll let you pass. The trail to sky pilot glacier is being widened for the tourists to waddle around when they jump off the gondola.

If you're going to climb Life of Earth, do it now!

[BK]

To the best of my ability, this my determination of the current road status:

Open to public when construction traffic is not active. Closed all other times.

typically, it is open 5 pm through until 0700 daily monday to friday as well as 24 hours Saturday and sunday.

Unfortunately, there may be variations to this schedule which may be hard to predict in advance.


This information was communicated directly to me by a construction foreman on site and clarified via email with management. I suggest follow these suggested times for access with a back up plan in your back pocket (Fluffy kitten wall maybe). These restrictions are entirely justifiable for safety reasons and if deemed necessary may be enforced more stringently. It sounds like so far they are trying hard to accommodate recreational access and its not just us climbers asking for it:

Our problem is the atv crowd both winter and summer potentially. ..... we are working hard to ensure access is in no way reduced from at least what it was before.

Currently I am unaware of any "Trail widening" anywhere up there other than BC Parks improving the Shannon falls spur trail off of the back side chief trail.

[BK]

For the sake of clarity ( so little is lost in translation) Jayson Faulkner asked me to post this last email recieved:

Here is how it should be working and hopefully how it should be working from now on but please let us know if it is not the case.

1) On road access. We have worked on the road but it is a work in progress. We are putting a temporary gate (lock block and chain) where the old boulders were (ie downhill from the road construction work) because the road is not deemed safe for unmonitored vehicle traffic at this point. All pedestrian traffic is welcome and encouraged. There will be times when concrete trucks and other heavy equipment are working and also the crew is occasionally working seven days a week. So some weekends may be a challenge for access when this is occurring. We are going to manage these situations where possible, with flag people at the top and the very bottom so there may be some delays due to their comings and goings. It is a very active construction site and road and safety is the most important concern for all involved.

2) Once the road is deemed safe for the general public we will be moving the restricted access up to the memorial rock and creating a parking lot there. We will decommission the road above that point. Again the effort is to limit vehicle access for safety reasons but encourage pedestrian and bike traffic on the road. This will allow for climbers, bikers, hikers, and runners safe use of the trails while we operate. The access will be better than it has been for the last 20 or so years and a very reasonable annual pass for the gondola will make the access even better.

3) The instructions have been to the security that they should move uphill to the top terminal construction area and limit their inquiries to people coming out onto the construction area. We will do our best to manage the needs of our construction crews and the safety/access for the general public.

Again please let us know if you have other questions or inquiries.

I hope this helps. It dosn't sound too terrible. Here is some other trail info:

On a more positive note Trevor was trail finding with Jeremy Frimer and Colin Haley on Wednesday up under Sky Pilot and Co Pilot. Do you know if the ridge that runs to the north west down from the saddle between Co Pilot and Goat's Ridge has a name. We also have a crew helping to maintain the road/trail to sky pilot out working right now so the access should get better.

Thanks again for the comments and hope to see you out on the trail.


Best,
Jayson Faulkner
General Manager

e: jayson@seatoskygondola.com

[AdiNone]

We checked with Jayson Faulkner regarding FSR access and he kindly and promptly got back to us and said we were OK to go on Saturday.

Here are some pics:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1073 ... M-bktuSxwE

The approach on the FSR is indeed straight forward. The bushwack is steep, perfect for warming up for what’s ahead . Route finding on the face was tricky.

[tendollarpants]

I went up sky pilot on saturday and parked behind the locked gate at roughly 9km. The road crew was working that morning and the gate was still locked at the end of the day.

I think it's still worth pushing/riding a bike to the fire ring at the Habrich turnoff if the gate is locked.