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Mother Nature bars cement trucks from Jumbo
Mother Nature got in the way of a day of cement pouring at Jumbo Glacier Resort Oct. 4 when the first of a reported 15 cement trucks became stuck near the proposed village site, 55 km west of Invermere.
The cement trucks were heading to Jumbo to begin pouring the foundation for the resort’s day lodge.
“There was somewhere between six to 10 inches of rain at the resort site last night which made the last few kilometres of the access road very muddy and difficult for heavy trucks. The contractors are making improvements to the road and will be rescheduling the delivery,” said resort spokesperson Tom Oberti.
The wrinkle in the plans was a delight to the roughly 80 people gathered at the 19 km mark of the Toby Creek Road (Mineral King Mine). Wildsight, Jumbo Wild and West Kootenay Eco Society members staged a morning rally to express their opposition to the ski resort proposal, which is hitting an important stage in its 24-year history, as proponents have until Oct. 12 to show to the provincial government that ‘substantial infrastructure’ in underway, a requirement laid out in the Environment Assessment Certificate.
Two other cement trucks and a pumper truck reached the Mineral King Mine site, where the road begins to wind uphill into the Jumbo drainage, but turned back because of the poor condition of sections of 18 km of road leading to the village site.
A couple of Columbia Valley hunters camped nearby also attended the rally for a short period and related their views of the condition of the road in the upper reaches as barely passable even for four-wheel drive trucks and ATVs, in at least three locations where slides occurred last winter.
Columbia Valley RCMP made an appearance before the 9 a.m. rally start time, but did not remain on scene.
Rally organizers demanded civil obedience and that was the case, as those in attendance, from the valley, elsewhere in the East Kootenay and West Kootenay, only shared their views and waved a variety of anti-resort placards and pointed out they don’t believe substantial infrastructure will be in place by Oct. 12.
Jumbo Wild also has established a monitoring camp at the Leona Creek junction with the Jumbo road, a short distance from the proposed village site.
Ian Cobb/e-KNOW
Images by Pat Morrow and Ian Cobb
