Cleveland Dam to Cypress return, ~25 km

For a day that started out with some rain in the forecast we ended up with a spectacular morning for venturing up in the Hollyburn Mountain area for our run.  Glenn counted 67 people gathered at the Cleveland Dam parking lot to start. But by the time we were part way into the trees above West Vancouver there were 3 more to make it an even 70.  As Glenn said, “that’s more than most ultra races get”. 

I asked (strongly) that all runners stay in groups of two at least because of the nature of the trails. And also because I knew that we would get split up doing different routes and distances.  From what I know we all got back safe and sound and I got to see lots of happy faces wandering around in various places in groups of 2 to 6.  My plan was to hike up with some gear to do a bit of trail marking and also take some pictures. 

Not too far past the cut off to the Skyline Trail were quite a few went, the snow was quite firm and fairly easy to walk on.  It started about half way up Hollyburn Chute and, as Gottfried told us at the start, it was a bit treacherous. But honestly, I’ve seen it much worse. There is still so much of it that we could stay on top with hardly any punching through.  There must be 3 to 4 feet on the cross-country ski runs still. 

Once I got up to the top of the Hollyburn ski area I made my plans for marking the BP trail with more of our special orange BP triangles.  I was careful to not make any new route given the heavy snow but I did intend to enhance what markers are already there.  Most notably, there is now a pair of markers, one above the other, on a tree right beside the ski run to give you a good indication of which direction to go when heading into the forested area.  I added a few along the way to the bridge crossing and put a couple more as you go into the trees on the other side of the bridge.  By the way, normally there is about 5 to 6 feet of snow on the bridge (the one that has the big sway in it) at this time of year and you can usually see at least part of the wood structure: but not this year.  It is fully covered, probably 7 to 8 feet deep, and many of the markers in the area are still at or near snow level.  To help celebrate our 20^th race we might as well have another big snow year I guess. 

I know there were at least three groups of runners that made it all the way to the Cypress Bowl parking lot. One of them took the roadway on the way out hut but two groups (Ellie and friends and also Ran K. and two ladies) made their way back through the trees. Congrats for doing the whole route people and also thanks a whole bunch for sticking together. It’s more fun that way anyway. 

I made my way into the trees for a bit but turned around after a few minutes and a few more markers.  Coming back down the cross-country ski runs was great but very sunny. I tried to hug the edges of the runs and stay in the shade but the sun was directly overhead by this time. Everyone was long gone but I did see 3 cross-country skiers and a couple of dogs. Oh but on the way down below the Chute I did see Baldwin coming up with stories of a wrecked foot from a little event he put on yesterday with some Club Fat Ass friends.  That must be a hair-of-the-dog cure I guess. 

So it was a great running day with only one question remaining for me. I finished at about 2:45 pm and am still wondering who’s Delica van I saw still in the parking lot with an ultra race sticker on it that meant it was certainly someone from our training group.   

Please remember next weekend is our Trail Work Party on Saturday May 31. If you happen to be running the Iron Knee that day and still want to get in on the trail party action you can check out what their group is doing the following weekend on June 7. I know that you know you need your volunteer hours for the Knee Knacker and we’re satisfied in any way you can contribute, especially on the trails.

And please remember to find at least one volunteer for our race day on July 12 and have them check out the list of spots still available on the volunteer page. 

See you next Sunday for the last half.  Meeting Place is Deep Cove at 8:00 am so we can carpool to Cleveland Dam. 

Craig Moore

more photos ...

e-mail me with our feedback form