for Squamish
written by Peter Winter
Following the recent news of the proposed change to Stawamus Chief Park, the CASBC Board decided to review our neutral position on the gondola. CASBC was made aware of the proposal in June 2011. We studied the proposal and asked our membership for comment. Based on the comments we received, and since climbing access was not affected, we elected to remain neutral on the matter. We nonetheless lobbied the developers to include trails that would improve access to other climbing areas such as Mt. Habrich and Skypilot. We were accommodated but continued to remain neutral on the proposal.
We understood that the gondola would have to cross Stawamus Chief Provincial Park and BC Parks would have to address the issue. The proposed solution is to reclassify 2.36 hectares of the Park from Class A Provincial Park to a Protected Area to create a 20m wide right-of-way for the gondola. Obviously we would prefer the Park to remain as it is. However, the fact that climbing access is still not affected and negative feedback from our members has been limited, the Board decided to retain our neutral position on the proposal.