Mother Nature shuts down road into Farnham Glacier site
By Contributor
Jumbo Wild supporters are shouting out a big cheer for Mother Nature after a slide blocked access to the Farnham Glacier site, preventing any traffic in or out of the current Jumbo Glacier Resort development area.
While the washout pleases Jumbo Wild supporters, it’s bad news for Glacier Resorts as the developers attempt to get into Farnham Glacier this week to perform any work in the Jumbo Controlled Recreation Area (CRA) said camper K.Linda Kivi.
“The rain last Friday washed boulders down an avalanche chute from a pocket glacier, completely wiped out the road and moved the creek channel 30 metres away,” Kivi said in a Keep Jumbo Wild statement.
“The only way in or out is to hop, skip and jump the creek on foot,” added Kivi, one of the checkpoint participants, who walked out on Sunday with another checkpoint participant.
Kivi is one of a number of Kootenay residents who have been monitoring Glacier Resort activities since the end of July by camping on the Farnham Glacier Road.
She said there are nine people and five vehicles stranded above the washout, including a group of hunters and the campers at the Jumbo Wild checkpoint 53 km west of Invermere.
“This just shows us how difficult and expensive it will be to keep an all-season road open,” Kivi explains.
“Glacier Resorts guests could be stranded, like we are for the time being, except we have a couple weeks’ worth of food and firewood, as well as shelter.”
According to Kivi, it’s complicated to figure out whose responsibility these roads are, since a section of the road is a Forest Service Road, part is Canadian Forest Products (Canfor) and the final section is within the CRA of Glacier Resorts.
“If the planned boutique resort is built near Farnham, who will pick up the tab for road maintenance as well as the safety and evacuation of guests?” she asked.
“According to locals, this is an unusual event for this time of year and could be the result of climate change.”
Engineering tech Len Palajak with the Ministry of Forests in Cranbrook told Keep Jumbo Wild supporters that Canfor has a permit for that section of the road.
“They are responsible and will be checking it out today,” said Palajak.
The checkpoint is now into its seventh week.
According to Kivi, Glacier Resorts has violated their Environmental Assessment Office Commitments on numerous fronts this summer.
For one, Glacier Resorts is supposed to prohibit recreational vehicle traffic in the CRA.
More than 100 vehicles entered the CRA during the first three weeks of the checkpoint according to the log the group has been keeping.
The group thwarted Glacier Resorts’ attempt to obtain an injunction to remove their checkpoint in August.
After exchanging required affidavits, Glacier resorts adjourned its application generally in Vancouver on August 26, but the Court ordered Glacier vice president Grant Costello be present if it is brought back to BC Supreme Court.
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