Sa TERGU HE at

Backing into cliff could be deadly

. THE RECENT tragic deaths of
“three Squamish residents in a
4X4 accident on the Mamquam
logging road ‘system caused me
‘to'recall witha shiver the first
“piece .of -back-road. driving
“instruction { received from Fred
“Thompson of North Vancouver.

Fred and IT were contemplating a
roadblocking landslide through the
windshield of his Ford F-150. Even
Feould see we were going to have to
turn the big rig around on a narrow
“track: scraped: into a_near-vertical
hillside by a bulldozer blade. There
‘were no guardrails and I could see
further. down than I cared to. think

decade bouncing over most of the
back-roads in B.C. with the
Coquitlam-based Coast Climbers
club.

“Rule number one," Fred said
over the diesel throb, “You never,
and | mean NEVER, back up toward
the cliff side. You ALWAYS hack
your rig INTO the hill!”

At the time, this seemed as pro-
foundly obvious as Newton's Law
Governing Things That Go Up, but |
‘guess you had to be there, looking
down at a river so far below it
looked like a thin silver wire, to get
the point.

“The road-bed could be unstable.
Back the weight of your jeep or
_truck onto it and four or five feet of
it could let go. You don't want to go
down one of these hills backwards.”

As if going down forward was a
serious option, Five young people
from Squamish broke that rule, or
forgot it, just once, and three of them
died. The Mamquam logging road
system isn’t even particularly chal-

~ GREATER hao

THE MAMQUAM logging road system isn't particularly challeng- .
ing; though it’ offers some excellent back-roading and unusual §

; Including a look at the North Shore from the back door.

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lenging, though it does offer some
excellent back-roading and unusual
views, including a glimpse of the
North Shore through the back door.

Late this summer | expressed
curiosity about a rumored route
from Squamish to Wigwam Inn at
the head of Indian Arm, My good
friend and neighbor, Ivan Fassler, a

lifelong Squamish resident who has’

ground a few trucks down to the
frame on the area's labyrinthine net-
work of back-roads, decided his

"1992 4X4 Mazda pickup didn't have

enough honorable scars and offered
to show me the way.

We entered the Mamquam log-
ging road system south of Squamish
where Hwy. 99 crosses - the
Stawamus River. A large sign
reminds you this is an active logging
area and a 4X4 hasn't been built that
can win a right-of-way argument
with a fully loaded logging truck.
Drive with your lights on and your.

eyes open and yield to trucks.

Follow turns to the right and the
Stawamus/Indian River signs when
you come to the fork with) the
Shannon Creek forest service road.

The alpine buckwoads are never
more gorgeous, or more dangerous,
than in late fall. HW you go, by all
means equip yourself with every
map and guide you can get your
hands on AND DON'T TRUST
ANY OF THEM. “Keeping guide-
books and maps ‘up to date is an
impossible task,” Fred Thompson
says. “Forest service and logging
roads are prioritized, maintained on
the basis of whether they're being
currently used or not, You may well
find yourself up a roud that’s sup-
posed to connect to another but
doesn't, due w rockfall or land-
slides.”

When you do, be sure you're car-
rying shovels, bags of sand, and
scrap planks for traction and, above
all, remember: ALWAYS BACK UP
INTO THE HILL..-

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