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[workhike] Harrison Hut route recon, round 2 · Sat. Aug. 13th, 2011 - Sun. Aug. 14th, 2011

Warning: This is an old trip - it already happened

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Organized by: Christian Veenstra.

Start: Saturday, Aug. 13th
End: Sunday, Aug. 14th

Description:

The Harrison hut is the VOC's most elusive hut, mainly due to the large quantity of landslide activity in the Meager Creek Valley which tends to destroy the roads. Mounts Meager, Capricorn and Devastator (all on the North side of this valley) make up what is reported to be the most geologically unstable region in Canada.

History of access to the area:

In December 2003 the Meager Creek bridge was taken out by a debris flow, which blocked access to the traditional trailhead. Since people who were trapped behind the bridge (at the nearby and quite popular hot springs) had to be flown out by helicopter the government took a long time before they finally decided to rebuild the bridge in the fall of 2007. VOCers enjoyed a brief window of being able to visit our hut again, and held the mountaineering camp there in 2008 to celebrate. We were so stoked about it that the hut (or the area around it) was even featured on the cover of the VOCJ for 2 years in a row. However a short time later on September 19, 2009, Capricorn Creek hosted a debris torrent which took out a different bridge again blocking access to the hut and trapping some people on the wrong side of the river. Again the government wasn't really sure if they wanted to restore access to the area, but finally coughed up the cash to rebuild the bridge across Capricorn Creek... rumour has it that they'd just finished and still had construction equipment on site when the 40 million cubic meters of rock - the 2nd largest landslide in Canadian history (well, white-man recorded history) - came roaring down the valley wiping out the bridge, equipment, 6-10 km of roads, and a hell of a lot of trees. I've seen the damage - it is awe inspiring. It seems unlikely that the government plans on rebuilding that road...

So, the plan is for the VOC to build a route on the other (south) side of the valley. This reduces our reliance on roads and bridges and increases the safety margin from further landslides. This is round 2 of Harrison Hut Route reconnaissance - because before you go to all the trouble of building a route you want to bushwack around a lot and make sure you put it in the right place.

Posted: 2011-07-27 23:30:29
Last modified: 2018-10-21 01:24:13