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The gondola proponents will present their plans to Squamish Council on Tuesday, September 28, 7 p.m. at Brennan Park Leisure Centre in Squamish. The meeting is open to the public. Please attend to show your support to keep the Chief gondola-free. (Please car pool, and be on time - it is a business meeting.) It is possible that Squamish Council will simply vote against the gondola proposal on the 28th, but that wouldn’t necessarily mean the end of it. Please write to: Bill Barisoff, Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection P.O. Box 9047, St'n. Prov. Gov't. Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 9E2 (250) 387-1187, or WLAP.Minister@gems9.gov.bc.ca Gordon Campbell, Premier P.O. Box 9041, St'n. Prov. Gov't. Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 9E1 Phone (250) 387-1715, or premier@gov.bc.ca Ian Sutherland, Mayor District of Squamish P.O. Box 310 Squamish, B.C. Canada V0N 3G0 Phone 1-877-892-5217, or isutherland@squamish.ca Letters should be to Mr. Barisoff, with copies to the premier, the mayor of Squamish, and the Access Society (squamish(at)access-society.ca). A written letter counts for much more than an e-mail, and an e-mail for much more than a phone call. Be polite, constructive, and clear. You can also write letters to the editor: Vancouver Sun sunletters@png.canwest.com Squamish Chief sqchief@uniserve.com Vancouver Province provletters@png.canwest.com

Coca-Cola during exercise (watch the Tour de France to see Tyler Hamilton drinking Coke mid-stage); Guinness and steak for post-exercise recovery.

The BC Parks May 14 trail update says that the snow starts at 2 km on the Red Heather trail. Check out http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/garibald/trail_updates.pdf.

Not surprising - the top gate is at about 4,500 feet and is probably still under snow.

There is a gate on the Cheekye FSR (the road you first take off Hwy. 99) before Cat Lake that is always locked. However, you need to turn left (north) onto the Brohm River Road before that. The Brohm River Road goes generally north then switches back to the south, rejoining the Cheekye FSR. There is a gate high up on the Cheekye FSR that is usually locked - the snowmobile club has the key. However, it's likely that at this time of year you wouldn't be able to get any farther anyway due to snow, if you can even make it to the gate. You'll need a HC-4WD with good tires to negotiate the upper part of the Brohm River Road and the upper part of the Cheekye FSR. This is the fastest way to climb Garibaldi from the N. However, the east face is also an excellent route taking you to the plateau between the three summits of Garibaldi, Atwell and Dalton Dome. Access is from the Diamond Head (Elfin Lakes shelter) area of Garibaldi Provincial Park. For details, see Kevin McLane's Alpine Select guide for this area.