Hanging Lake Trail Building

Reference Points

This section assigns names to various sections of the trail for documentation purposes. These are listen in order starting at the WOP Biathlon Range

0km Biathlon Building Parking: Trail follow Olympic Biathlon XC trail to the low point past the bridge
km Olympic Explorer: Backcountry access trail follows Olympic Explorer snowshoe trail along an old narrow roadbed.
km Map Trailhead: This is the proper trailhead on the logging road above the highest WOP XC ski trail.
km Trailhead climb: The initial climb straight up through the forest above the map trailhead
km sidehill bridge: A small bridge on a sidehill section
km Uprooted Tree Bridge: A small bridge across a little stream just past the uprooted tree.
km bench bridge: Another small bridge a bit further uphill
km Big Cedar bridge: Another small bridge where the trail climbs heads right to avoid uprooted trees in a small alder patch. This bridge has 5 log stringers with room for one more.
km Big Cedar Hill: trail climbs past a huge Yellow Cedar and then angles right towards Hanging Lake Creek.
km Forest Ridge: trail climbs along a small forested ridge parallel to Hanging Lake creek.
km old trail junction
km Big Rock Meadow: An open area with a large rock in the middle of it. Trail goes climber's left of the rock
km gully traverse: trail traverses left across the bottom of a spring avalanche gully. The gully is not visible from the trail.
km gully meadow
km mountain swamp
km boulder climb: Lower boulder climb is below the huge boulder. Upper boulder climb is above the boulder.
km boulder traverse: trail traverses right (steep at first) towards the new creek crossing
km Hanging Lake Creek Bridge
km yoyo meadows
km talus bench
km headwall climb
km Hanging Lake Bench
km Hanging Lake

Tasks & Schedule

Winter Tasks

Replace missing markers as needed (some trees were cut down, a few of the big hole markers fell off). Completed from trailhead to bottom of yoyo meadows March 2022.
Trailhead climb needs marker adjustments due to September 2024 reroute around major blowdown
Uprooted Tree Bridge to Bench Bridge needs markers augmented due to September 2024 widening which removed 2 trees with markers
Align markers for switchback through yoyo meadows
Align markers to switchbacks on headwall climb
Improve marker visibility from talus bench to headwall climb

Fall Tasks

Nail down log stringers on Bench Bridge (rebuilt September 2024)
Clear brush at top of headwall climb and entry to Hanging Lake Bench
Replace collapsed bridge near start of narrow road just above Biathlon Range
Secure bolts on Hanging Lake Bridge middle stringer with loctite (all other bolts completed September 2022).
Clear large logs and brush on boulder climb where trail wraps around tree for highest switchback
Clear tree that obscures markers on boulder climb where trail wraps around tree for highest switchback
Remove trees as marked for minor widening from Big Cedar Bridge to old trail junction

History

September 22, 2024

(Tyson Schulz, Geoff Dosman, Lena Rowat, Nick Matwyuck, Charles, Christian Veenstra, Fenya Veenstra, Scott Nelson, Erik Nelson & Halle Nelson)

Rerouted trail around a new blowdowns just above the trailhead. Widened trail from uprooted tree bridge to bench bridge. Rebuilt bench bridge. Widened trail from old trail junction to big rock meadow.

March 31, 2024

(Scott Nelson, Erik Nelson)

We skied up the trail one way doing the Hanging Lake - Beverley Creek loop. I added new signage to separate uphill and downhill traffic above the Hanging Lake Bridge. Two large trees have blow over right above the trailhead (one broken one uprooted).

October 7, 2023

(Line Veenstra, Christian Veenstra, Fenya Veenstra, Nova Veenstra, Willow Veenstra, Scott Webster, Anne Webster, Joel Webster, Alina Webster, Ildiko Kovacs, Matthieu Van Vyve, Marion Courtois, Scott Nelson, Erik Nelson, Halle Nelson)

Today we had a big group with more kids that adults. We managed to build a new bridge at the end of the narrow road, dig a ton of new ditches to drain the narrow road, and clear out all the alder and blowdowns along the narrow road section.

October 6, 2023

(Scott Nelson solo scouting mission)

Scouted work for a big group on Saturday October 7th. Cleared a few trees and branches at top of uphill/downhill traffic separation, and widened gully traverse.

I also explored a potential shortcut between the narrow road and the forest trail, bypassing the trailhead sign so that descending skiers don't have to go uphill to return to the biathlon range. I set yellow flags on a feasible route, but it will require heavy work to clear it for skiing. There are many fallen trees perpendicular to the direction of travel and one bridge to build. The route has many small trees growing on it, so skiing it in it's present condition will be quite difficult.

September 25, 2022

(Line Veenstra, Christian Veenstra, Fenya Veenstra, Nova Veenstra, Willow Veenstra, Scott Nelson, Erik Nelson, Halle Nelson)

Cleared relaigned trail below big cedar bridge so the marked alignment is suitable for low snow conditions. Did the same at the top of the Big Cedar Hill where the new trail transitions into the old one. Applied DAP medium strength thread locker to all nuts on the bridge, except for the middle stringer which had one nut frozen. We left this one as is to use a wicking type thread locking compound in the future.

March 16, 2022

(Scott Nelson)

Skied up the trail as far as the main bridge, pruning high branches and augmenting markers as I went. I raised markers on the October 2021 realignment and pulled the markers off the old route here. The realigned trail skied really nicely as the snow formed a nice bench on the traverse, and the turn wasn't too steep. I changed the trail alignment below the big cedar bridge, so the trail flows more naturally onto the bridge without having to lose any elevation. There's a log or two under the snow here that ought to be cut through when the snow is gone. Higher up I improved markers in the Mountain Swamp section based on feedback from October 2019.

October 17, 2021

(Geoff Dosman, Tasha Salman, Scott Webster, Joel Webster, Scott Nelson, Sandra Nelson, Erik Nelson, Halle Nelson)

Moved alder bridge downstream using Geoff's come along (now called Big Cedar Bridge after the huge yellow cedar on the SE side of the bridge). We cleared a new section of trail to avoid the blowdowns in the alder patch. The new section is cleared and marked, but the markers need to be raised when there is snow. We could not reach the markers on the old trail to remove them.

October 9, 2021

(Scott Nelson)

I hiked to the Hanging Lake Creek Bridge to inspect the bridge and tighten up any loose nuts or bolts. On the way up I discovered that 5 trees had uprooted next to the trail at alder swamp, blocking passage except for a steep, narrow, wet corridor between the old uprooted tree and the new root wad. It was easy enough to pass on foot, but it will present a formidable obstacle once the snow start piling up, especially if it is warm enough that the snow melts in the hollow between the root wads. Other than that the trail was in quite good condition to the Hanging Lake Creek Bridge. Just before the bridge, the big leaning tree that was partially blocking the trail in February 2020 had fallen down naturally and slid 30 feet downhill and out of the way.

At the bridge I tightened the nuts, cut deeper grooves for the north turnbuckle, and reset the cable clip to tighten it up nicely. The south side turnbuckles were nice and tight. On the far side of the bridge I trimmed some branches and cleared a few small trees to give more freedom to maneuver on this steep climb. There should now be room to direct downhill traffic to shortcut directly down to the bridge, keeping the skin track intact.

On the way down I stopped to survey a new route to bypass the newly uprooted trees. This route starts just below the alder creek bridge and crosses alder creek lower down, then into the forest on the far side, avoiding the alder patch altogether. I found a good route along a natural bench that traverses right all the way to the edge of the creek, then makes a climbing turn back left to join the present trail. The route is heavily overgrown with small trees and would be completely impassible on skis with less than 2m of snow. An alternate route higher up the slope had a number of rocks that would make for awkward steep sections of skinning.

February 16 2020

(Scott Nelson, Sandra Nelson)

We skied up the trail and ultimately came out Beverley Creek. WOP has groomed the narrow road, making it very smooth and easy. The sections cleared last falls skies really nicely. At the uprooted tree traverse the hung up snag was not a problem. At lower boulder climb the clearing work done in October worked out very nicely and no further refinements are needed. On upper boulder climb switchback the snow was too steep to wrap completely around the tree so there was a shortcut switchback in front of it instead. There is a new snagged leaning tree below the Hanging Lake Creek Bridge right were we pulled one down in 2018. The trunk was not in the way but some of the side branches hanging down were. Traversing out left and cutting back under the tree worked ok, but coming up from below was too steep. Downhill skiers have side slipped this section making it tough to negotiate uphill. The bridge itself was completely buried in snow. The steep section above the bridge skied great and we continued easily all the way up to Hanging Lake.

October 27, 2019

(Scott Nelson, Geoff Dosman, Reed Schrad, Einar Hansen, Alexander MacIsaac)

We cleared fallen trees and widened the trail from the top of trailhead climb to the uprooted tree traverse, where a big blowdown had exploded all over the trail. Cleared brush and deadfall on lower boulder climb. Felled all trees flagged for removal as far as the Hanging Lake Creek Bridge. Geoff and Reed both reported having trouble following the markers in the mountain swamp section where there is a single marker on a skinny tree in the middle of the swampy patch. Hanging Lake Creek bridge is in good shape - a couple of bolts managed to loosen themselves over the winter.

October 11, 2019

(Scott Nelson, Sandra Nelson, Erik Nelson, Halle Nelson, Christian Veenstra, Fenya Veenstra, Nova Veenstra)

Kid friendly trail day near the trailhead. Dug ditches on the narrow road between the collapsed bridge and the first switchback. More clearing of trees and high branches to allow crossing the stream at the collapsed bridge without going down into the gully and back up the other side. Kids more or less took care of themselves digging, harvesting clay and building their own beaver lodge.

October 21, 2018

(Scott Nelson, Wayne Dalzell, Liam Kynaston, Lesley Stalker)

Completed the Hanging Lake Creek Bridge. Tied down log stringers and bolted centre span support in place. spiked down log stringers on alder bridge

October 6, 2018

(Scott Nelson, Erik Nelson, Halle Nelson, Scott Webster, Anne Webster, Joel Webster, Alina Webster)

Kid friendly trail day clearing between the trailhead and the alder bridge. Cleared new direct alignment on trailhead climb.

September 30, 2018

(Scott Nelson, Geoff Dosman, Louis Arsenault, Rob Kay, Jeff Mottershead, Liam Kynaston, Matt Parisien) Finished gabion boxes, built adhesive rock anchor and pulled 5 log stringers across the creek. Got totally soaked again.

September 23, 2018

(Scott Nelson, Geoff Dosman, Matt Parisien, Liam Kynaston) Continued filling gabion boxes, rescued the big log that fell down the creek and dragged other logs to the bridge site.

September 9, 2018

(Scott Nelson and Liam Kynaston) Placed gabion boxes and started filling them. Got totally soaked.

August 6, 2018

(Scott Nelson, Matt Parisien, Val, Wayne Dalzell) Carried Gabion boxes to site and pulled down unfelled trees with tirfor.

July 22, 2018

(Scott Nelson, Wayne Dalzell). Felled some trees, left others cut and standing because they wouldn't fall over. Lost a big fir tree log down the creek when it slid away after being peeled and turned over.

July 7, 2018

(Scott Nelson, Jeff Mottershead & Devlin Mottershead). We felled a yellow cedar tree and cut and peeled two 6m long log stringers. The extra length will allow more flexibility in building a stone gabion foundation on the south bank back from the edge of the water. Jeff used his tirfor to pull down the big leaning tree safely, then I bucked it into pieces with the chainsaw after it was down.

June 2, 2018

(Scott Nelson and Lukas Schreiber). We hiked up to scout out the main creek crossing for a bridge. We found two good rocks to bolt a log to for a foundation on the south side, and one rock on the north side. The north side will require a couple gabion cages and rock fill to build up the remaining foundation to the height of the rock. Vertical clearance to the water is good - about 1m and the span is 4.2m. There are several 25-40cm diameter yellow cedar trees in the vicinity that could be used to make stringers. There are multiple good anchor points for winching logs into place on both sides of the creek. After scouting the crossing we did some miscellaneous pruning on the way back down to the car.

March 11, 2018

(Scott Nelson and Matt Parisien). We pulled markers from the old alignment, raised markers on the lower trail section and realigned markers on the boulder climb. Set new markers on a more direct alignment on trailhead climb as some had fallen off.

October 28, 2017

(Scott Nelson, Sandra Nelson, Erik Nelson, Halle Nelson, Christian Veentra, Fenya Veenstra, Matt Gunn, Teigan Gunn, Andre Zimmermann, Luca Zimmermann) A trail-building trip with kids to dig ditches. We improved drainage between the Biathlon Range and the small road switchbacks. Water was diverted off the very first section on trail to allow skiers to use this rather than the steep climb a bit further east. We also widened the clearing width near a stream where a small bridge had collapsed by cutting back slide alder to allow the stream to be crossed uphill where it bridges naturally.

October 22, 2017

(Scott Nelson, Bruce Cassels, Bruno Godin) First we cleared numerous blowdowns between the biathlon range and widened the connection between the narrow road and the big road near the trailhead. The largest blowndown was too big and suspended above the road cut so we notched it and build a ramp around it on the downhill edge of the road. This should fill in nicely with a little bit of snow. Higher up above the traverse bridge we found a huge blowdown that was too big to cut through (estimated 42" diameter) so we rerouted a short section of trail instead to the left (uphill). The reroute is shorter and smoother than the old (now blocked) trail.

Jan 4, 2014- Hanging Lake Ski

(Scott Nelson, Matt Parisien) no work done on the trail, but a good assessment of what travelling the trail is like in extremely thin snow conditions. At the trailhead, the snowpack was just 5cm of ice and frozen tree bombs so we strapped our skis to our packs and hiked up to 1200m. Travel was surprisingly fast thanks to the clearing work. We still had to step over a few fallen logs and there were plenty of stumps poking through too. Travel would have been a little easier if the trail was cleared to full hiking trail standards (i.e. cut every single log across the trail). Bashing our way through the blueberry bushes and devils club stems was not a problem. Bridges were not holding any snow yet. just 1cm of ice. All creeks were solidly frozen. Puddle near the big uprooted tree (1000m) was not frozen. The icy logs that we threw into the puddle last fall were tricky to walk. Just below the main creek crossing we went underneath a big leaning tree. Going above it was not possible with the thin snowpack – perhaps 30-40cm at that point. Last spring we went above this tree. At this point it’s not clear if there is an awkward snowpack depth where neither over nor under work. We went below the big dead tree that was cut down near 1250m. The fallen tree itself was still blocking travel on the uphill side. Travel was easy for the uncleared portion above 1250m. Clearing higher than 1250m would not be beneficial.

October 26, 2013 – Hanging Lake Trail Clearing

(Scott Nelson, Matt Parisien, Ben Singleton-Polster, Adam Palmblad, Tracy Wilkinson, Matthew Paley, Robin Curtis, Leor Oren). We built three new bridges on the Hanging Lake trail – (trailhead bridge, sidehill bridge and alder bridge). The blowdowns from last winter were taken care of and we cut down all the trees marked with orange tape up to 1050m.

October 5-6, 2013 – Hanging Lake Trail Clearing

(Scott Nelson, Austin Badger, Dan Domanski) BCMC trip cleared the rerouted trail section that was marked in March. The new stream crossing was easy, even with high runoff. It is just below a pretty waterfall where the creek cascades down bedrock. One big fallen tree at big rock meadow could be problematic in early winter. We widened a naturally occurring gap in the tree but it may be too steep to climb on skis. I will have to check it out after the snow falls and decide if more work is necessary. At the trailhead the plastic coating on the sign artwork is shrinking significantly. The screws won’t allow this, so it bubbled up a bit around the screws. The map artwork underneath is totally fine though.

March 16, 2013 – Hanging Lake trail reroute marking

(Scott Nelson, Bill Maurer, Elisa Kreller and Goran Babic). BCMC group marked the improved route with permanent markers. We also remove the first few markers at either end of the bypassed section so they are not visible from the new alignment. Most of the old markers are still up.

February 9, 2013 – Hanging Lake trail reroute exploration

(Scott Nelson, Ross Nelson). We figured out a better route that avoids the steep difficult part of the climb. The new variation is quite a bit easier to ski. We flagged it with pink ribbons, but they are not as frequent as the permanent markers, so a little bit of searching might be required. The new route leaves the old one at the creek crossing and stays on the climber’s left side of the creek for a further 500m. Then it cuts back to the right just as things start to get steep, crosses the creek and rejoins the old route above the difficult climb.

October 20, 2012 – Hanging Lake trail

(Scott Nelson, Matt Parisien, Russell Porter, Jake Alleyne,Gili Rosenberg, Olga Lansdorp, Andrew Cavers, Sam Slota-Newson, Jo, Adrian Armstrong, Will, Rob Kay) VOC and BCMC Crew. We widened the trail and built a few bridges from the logging road sign to the creek crossing.

October 14, 2011 – meeting with Lindsay Durno and Soren Robinson

(Scott Nelson and Bryce Leigh). We met with Lindsay to discuss access signage on WOP property. Lindsay and Soren agreed to put up signs directing backcountry users to the established trailheads where backcountry skiers can leave WOP. Backcountry users will be allowed to use the XC ski trails to reach the backcountry. The small road that runs from the Biathlon Range to the Hanging Lake trailhead sign will be designated as a snowshoe trail and may be used by backcountry skiers and snowshoers. We also brushed out the connector between this small road and the bigger logging road where the trailhead sign is located.

October 11th, 2010

The trailhead signs are now complete. These signs were moved from their original locations at the request of Whistler 2010 Sports Legacies Society (the new owners of Whistler Olympic Park), who did not want the signs to be visible from the XC ski trails.

March 27th, 2010

Maria Markov, Anna Szeitz, Ben Singleton-Polester, Chris Michalak, Skyler Ces Roches, Jean Francois Caron and Sandra Nicol joined me for the final round of hanging trail markers. We covered the whole trail from the Biathlon Range to Hanging Lake on what turned out to be a fairly nice day. The first section of trail between the Biathlon Range and the logging road above the XC trails was in really rough condition with little snow and lots of bushy trees, but the rest of the trail went really well. The main creek crossing wasn’t filled in either, but it was pretty easy to cross back and forth about 50m upstream where the creek braids out into several channels.

Hanging_lake_signJanuary 21st, 2010 – Final map

The final version of the map is ready to view. You can download a high res PDF here.

July 26, 2009 – Hanging Lake

(Scott Nelson and Sandra Nicol) We brought a chainsaw up the hanging lake route as far as the start of the open meadows that begin around 1250m. We cut all the large blowdowns between here and the upper logging road. Also did some considerable work on the worst of the dense patches of brushy young conifers around 1000m. This was my first time walking this route in summer conditions. It was hot and buggy, and there was more devils club than I’ve ever seen before. I guess that is part of the reason why the route skis so well in the winter. Another brushing day will be needed to clear from the shooting range to the logging road, as this section was definitely the worst of the bush (and it sees the least snow). I think this can wait until next summer, as VANOC might be causing all sorts of havoc in there for the Olympics.

June 6, 2009 – meeting with Lindsay Durno and sign scouting

(Scott Nelson). I met with Lindsay Durno, the operations manager at Whistler Olympic Park. He was keen on doing some large map boards for the backcountry trailheads at the Biathlon Range and Beverley Creek Bridge, in the same style as the existing XC trail map boards. He suggested that he would be able to provide the stand structures if I could provide the signs. Trailhead signs like this would put me over the original budget, so I will be applying for some more funding from the federal government trails program. Lindsay gave me the contact info for the contractors that made the existing signs at WOP – Century signs in Squamish for fabrication and Tom Barret Ltd in Whistler for the mapping and design. After the meeting I hiked up the Rainbow-Madeley Trail to check out the junctions where the new trail up beverley creek crosses it. I identified suitable trees for trail signs at these junctions. I continued up the Beverley Creek route to see how bushy it was higher up. It turned out to be really easy going, as it was mostly swamp. Only one section about 50m long, the steep traverse over to the valley floor, needs brushing.

February 1, 2009

(Scott Nelson & Ben Singleton-Polester). We flagging a bypass section through the forest between the biathlon range and the logging road above the XC ski trails. (Note, this section is no longer used)

December 14, 2008

Exploratory ski trip to Hanging Lake

March 15-16, 2008

Exploratory ski trip up to Hanging Lake and down Beverley Creek

2009 Funding

MEC kindly provided $1948 for the Hanging lake and Beverley Creek trails.

National Trail Coalition of Canada (www.ntc-canada.ca) provided $1926.