Heli-skiing on the Duffey

[riptorn]

For those who might be interested,

 

http://www2.lwbc.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/getfile.jsp?PostID=8313&FileID=15431&action=view

 

Please send your comments to:

 

Ministry of Tourism, Sports and Arts

Adventure Tourism Manager

510-175 2nd Ave,

Kamloops BC

V2C 5W1

 

Application# 3411014

 

Comments must be received before Nov. 22

 

I for one am not stoked at the thought of this going through, if you feel the same please let it be known.

[AlpineK]

I've been helicoptered in to the area just north of the Duffy lake road once. Of course we only took one ride and skied out. That seems like acceptable use to me, but an all day helicopter barrage does not seem like a good idea.

[G-spotter]

Who are the proponents - Coast Range Heliskiing?

 

It'd be ironic if that Downton Creek ski resort proposal got shut down only for there to be a huge heliski operation on the same slopes.

[riptorn]

Yep

http://www2.lwbc.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/viewpost.jsp?PostID=8313

I think its Cayoosh Resort in Melvin Creek you may be thinking of.

 

[G-spotter]

http://www.coastrangeheliskiing.com/

[jordop]

G-spotter said:

Who are the proponents - Coast Range Heliskiing?

 

It'd be ironic if that Downton Creek ski resort proposal got shut down only for there to be a huge heliski operation on the same slopes.

 

 

 

Also, there aint a tonne of great skiing in the Downton. Except for this thing: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/687822#Post687822 the summits are kinda dry and rocky

 

looks like the gov't is trying to sneak one more heli tenure in before the LRMP is fully implemented?

 

That’s a fucking HUGE tenure, in addition to what was already a HUGE tenure by Cost Range Heli. That Whitecap parcel will be major infringement on Whitecap Alpine’s operations. Mind you, they already do “heli-assisted” touring . . .

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by jordop

[jordop]

HOWEVER, if heli tenure means that motorized users are banned but non-motorized is okay . . . . maybe that's a better proposition?????? Depends on the exact classification it falls under . .

[riptorn]

Ive heard there have been runs staked out in Channel Crk and near the Wendy Thompson Hut in Marriot Basin. Done deal or just optimistic?

 

[jordop]

i.e. Miller Creek (Ipsoot) will likely be zoned RA1-A in the LRMP. This designation is non-motorized, but allows for heli operations . . . in that sense, the heli tenure, while by no means ideal, may ensure a modicum of non-motized activity. Depends how you see it/how it gets zoned, I guess.

 

http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/lup/lrmp/coast/s2s/reports/CH3-3.3.pdf

[jordop]

Ive heard there have been runs staked out in Channel Crk and near the Wendy Thompson Hut in Marriot Basin. Done deal or just optimistic?

 

Pretty sure the Marriot to Rohr to Cayoosh triangle is firmly non-motorized to recognize the WT Hut area: RA1 in the LRMP draft . . .

[G-spotter]

You can't get what you don't ask for.

[mattp]

I was skinning up Ipsoot some years back and a helicopter came over the ridge. We were just a hundred yards from the summit and, instead of landing there, the pilot turned abruptly as soon as he saw us and they landed a couple hundred yards below. Out popped a group of Japanese tourists, and a ski guide (and his assistant) who had them all ski in tight allignment (they were farming the snow, saving "fresh tracks" for the next run or the next group, and they were also scouting for crevasses on this run down an active glacier with some real holes). I was most impressed. They clearly tried to avoid us and the guides were taking care of their clients.

 

We didn't see where they went for their next run but we skied the north side of the mountain while they skied the northwest, a completely different side of the peak, and we enjoyed the rest of our day without further contact.

 

I've skied in numerous areas where there was helicopter-served skiing nearby and only heard the occasional wind-and-fog-drifted noise of the nearby operation. In the Adamants, tour groups regularly ski from the Fairy Meadows hut while commercial helicopter skiing operators "do their thing" right over the ridge with relatively little conflict. Might it not be OK if the east end of the Duffy area is open for this purpose?

 

I'm a little dismayed that the boundaries of the helicopter area look pretty close to the basin around the Wendy Thompson Hut, but the most interesting area - that with all the glaciers - is well outside what I see designated on the map. Is any notion of helicopter skiing in that area bad, or might the boundaries be tweaked a bit?

 

[Over in the Pemberton Icefield area, I agree that snowmobile usage up Rutherford or other main access routes is or has probably been in the past rather extreme (though I say this based on what I've seen at the roadside rather than what I've actually encountered in the back country), but this thread is about heli-skiing on the Duffey.]

 

[Don_Serl]

the "Duffey North" portion of the proposal does not impinge on the Marriott Basin backcountry skiing area, which lies across the divide immediate to the SW of the proposal area (north of their "Duffey #2" staging area).

nor does the proposal impinge into Lost Valley Ck , which is sometimes used by backcountry skier (marked on the map); Downton Ck, almost never used for backcountry skiing, per jordop (also marked on the map); or Melvin Ck, rarely used for backcountry skiing, but the site of Al and Nancy Raine's controversial ski developemnt proposal (south of Downton Ck, NW of Cayoosh, E of "Duffey North").

to me, speaking as a vaguely informed non-skiing outdoorsman, isn't the real 'threat' in the "Duffey South" area? this is the Steep Ck drainage, which recently has become really popular for backcountry day-trips, and which i understand the snowmobile-assisted approach crowd use a LOT.

not my issue, but do write if you care at all - "silence gives consent"...

cheers,

Edited November 13, 2007 by Don_Serl

[LeeLau]

hi all

 

 

I just checked in with Andy Oetter - the ministry person in charge of collecting public input. The tenure is non-exclusive so that would mean that all recreational user groups would not be restricted from using the tenured area in question. However, they would have the possibility of sharing it with heliskiers.

 

 

 

Andy is very open to input btw.

[jordop]

.

 

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by jordop

[riptorn]