Mineral Exploration is the official publication of the Association of Mineral Exploration British Columbia.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/225045
B.C.'s best ski roots British Columbians owe much of their favourite winter pastime to the province's mining heritage Skiing at Silver Star – a resort that comes by its name honestly. By Rob McLeod M y first job as a geologist straight out of university in 1993 was near my hometown of Stewart, B.C., at an advanced gold project called Red Mountain. It was my dream job – in addition to being close to home and working in geology and underground exploration, I could also ski every day. I would travel with the miners on the back of a Sno-Cat, and ski back down to camp after work. I also helped with avalanche control, led by wellknown Swiss mountaineer Christoph Dietzfelbinger. Dropped off by helicopter to dig snow profiles along our proposed road route for avalanche baseline studies, we were often rewarded with a ski down 1,000 vertical metres of pristine powder! I am blessed to live in a province that has some of the best skiing in the world. In the 1970s and '80s, schoolmates from Photograph : Shaleah Priebe (cour tesy Silver Star Mountain Resor t) p28-33_Skiing.indd 29 Stewart and I had learned to ski at Happy Valley, located next to the Granduc mine concentrator. The mining company installed a rope tow to take advantage of average winter snowpacks of more than 10 metres deep at the site, a one-time worldrecord-setting location for annual accumulation. More recently, I was sitting in Long John's Pub at Silver Star Mountain near Vernon with my young family enjoying some après-ski chicken strips. My eye wandered over the rustic decor of gold pans, picks and shovels, and old photos from a historic mining operation until it dawned on me: I was skiing over a series of old silver mines! That's when I truly realized the profound connection between British Columbia's mining heritage and one of our favourite winter pastimes. w i n t e r 2 0 1 3 29 13-11-27 10:02 AM