Update on the progress of the Hurley opening.
The Province of BC still advises to restrict travel to communities to essential traffic only. Keep our communities safe and explore BC Later.
Update Sunday night. Tom got his cat fixed and unfortunately blew another hose. The shop in Kamloops is closed until Tuesday. We really feel for Tom this year and appreciate everything he has done to get his cat back to work. Another update will be made on Wednesday.
Tom has had some mechanical issues on his cat and that has set him back a couple of days at least. He is currently working on getting new parts and hopes to be back at it tomorrow. There is a lot of deep, hard ice under the snow and these are the hardest conditions he has had to plow. As soon as we know when it will be open it will be posted here. Estimated time of opening will likely be after the long weekend.
Great explanation. Thank you for this Conny!
Crowd fund repair costs for Tom?
Sorry to hear that Tom is having such a tough time but thankful for the work he is doing. Keep up the good work and stay safe, Chuck.
2020 will certainly be a memorable year..if not Covid ,now the Hurley is being difficult…we appreciate all your hard work Tom..
we can always wait until it melts LOL.
keep safe and enjoy the summer, its around the corner.
For the past 15 years Backcountry Snowcats has run a snowcat up and down the Hurley. They have done this to get supplies and to level the snowmobile road for public as well as for their guests. The Pemberton Snowmobile Club has jumped in there in the past three or four years as well grooming and clearing. Late every season the snowcats start peeling the top off the snowpack road. Every pass they push off anywhere from 3-8″ reducing the total snow on the road by over half in places. When this is not done the weight of the snow itself will compact deeper layers so much so that at times you struggle to push a knife into it. This season the tourism industry ended abruptly in the middle of March and little if any further snowcat work was done on the road.
Also in snowpack studies we did around around the Hurley we found a layer of snow several feet thick in the middle of the snowpack that was uncharacteristically dense. In general the snow in the Hurley area is about 15-20% more dense than typical for this time of the year. This is just a result of how the storms lined up through the winter in terms of wind, moisture and precipitation amounts.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Tom and the clearing crew for several years. I’m sure they are more frustrated about the mechanical issues than anyone. I also know they will be up there to finish the job the moment they have their parts…..regardless of the time of day or night.