viking

My father was born on 19th September 1914, in Viking, a small prairie town in eastern Alberta. A month ago I drove there from Squamish for the centenary with one of sisters, Sally, and my youngest son, James. Anniversaries often seem rather abstract and contrived to me, but this one made a great excuse for a road trip. We took six days to complete a big loop, passing Helmcken Falls, Mt Robson, Jasper and the Miette Hot Springs on the outward journey and Canmore, Lake Louise, Revelstoke and the Okanagan on the return. 

Our 2900km round trip - like driving Paris to Moscow

Neither Sally nor I had been to Viking before. Our main motivation for the trip was curiosity about the town and its role in our family's history. Our grandfather, William, moved there from London in 1909, the year the town was established.

William outside the Viking homestead

He persuaded our grandmother, Irene, also from southern England, to join him. They had two sons in quick succession whilst William established a law business and a farm. We still have a letter from Irene back to her mother in Britain, which suggests that she and William were very happy. 

Unfortunately world events intervened in 1914 and William considered it his duty to return to Britain. He served for almost the whole course of World War 1, receiving a Military Cross for bravery in 1917, but was killed in September 1918 by an artillery shell, just a couple of months before fighting ended. He is buried in Tincourt Cemetery, in the Somme region of northern France.

Irene, who had relocated to Britain with her sons during the war, moved back to Viking in 1919. William's brother, Reggie, and his wife, accompanied her, and ended up settling in the town for almost two decades. Before the war Reggie had secured a job with a Hong Kong bank, which he had to give up in favour of this alternative, and very different, path. Sadly he died of tuberculosis in 1937. Not in Viking but in Victoria, as conventional medical opinion at the time was that the moister warmer coastal climate was better for lung problems (these days an arid climate would be preferred). However he was succeeded by two sons, and his descendants are now quite numerous across Canada, (with a statistically-implausibly concentration in Barrie, Ontario - click on the image below for a visualisation!).

Irene returned to Britain permanently in 1923, when my father was nine. Throughout his life he retained memories of his Alberta farm years and maintained close contact with his Canadian cousins.

In the late 1920s Reggie arranged the sale of William and Irene's farm to a Scandinavian couple. Astonishingly two of their grandchildren, now in their 60s, still live in Viking. One of them, Bryan, agreed to meet us; a very generous and trusting decision, given that we only managed to contact him a couple of days before we arrived. His local knowledge and recall of his ancestors' experiences really transformed our visit from random tourism to something more focused.

The first place Bryan and his wife took us was the site of our grandparents' old homestead. Though now just a wheat field, the remnants of the house were not removed until the 1980s.

Alberta is flat! James, Sally and I at the homestead site

He also obtained access to the town museum, which is normally locked out of season. There we found a copy of the local newspaper from October 1914, two weeks after my father's birth. The juxtaposition of an advertisement for William's law business and the newspaper's "Call For More Men" is poignant.

Viking News from October 1914

We also discussed at length what had drawn our ancestors to a remote prairie town from Europe? Bryan had a single answer: free land. The Canadian Northern Railway had laid track as far west as Edmonton in 1905 and needed passengers and freight to justify its investment. It (and other railroad firms) advertised heavily in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, selling the dream of fertile empty territory waiting to be claimed. Viking was one of the stops on that new line. The standard measure for land in Alberta in that period was a "quarter": 160 acres. Bryan thought it was likely William would have stepped off the train and "staked" several quarters, so perhaps ending up with six hundred acres or more. We also know that William's father, George, had died young and that he and his brothers were likely to have been under financial pressure. It makes sense that becoming a large landowner, even by then British standards, had a strong appeal.

the UK Daily Mail promoting western Canadian land in 1904

A strange aspect of this story is that there was a third brother, Percy, who also lived in Viking. Percy was mentally-handicapped in some way, though apparently able to work and look after himself to some extent. We think that he may also have travelled out to Canada in 1909 and probably - helped by William? - staked his own land claim. He remained in Viking until his death in 1962, aged 74. He never married nor had children. We searched the graveyard for his name but with no success. Probably there was no-one to buy him a headstone. It is odd to think that someone could live a reasonably long life leaving so little trace - a massive contrast to our modern hyper-documented InstaFaceTwit world.

The final part of the puzzle for us was what had driven our grandmother to return to Britain in 1923? Sally knew Irene quite well. She was a bohemian woman who never remarried and devoted her life to art. Looking at Viking now - a small and very dull agricultural town - and considering how it might have been in the 1920s - much the same? - it seems very unlikely that she would have fitted in there. The railway line had crossed the Rockies by then. I wonder whether she ever considered moving west to the coast? It is easy to imagine that she could have made a life in Vancouver. Anyway, she did not. My father finished his schooling in Britain then got swept up in another world war (India then Burma then Portsmouth, where he met our mother). He never subsequently lived overseas. But through a quirk of immigration law he is not regarded as having revoked his Canadian nationality when I was born, so, taking the story full circle: I was able to move here already a citizen.

the elfin and the keith

Winter quietly ended a few weeks ago, at least in Squamish. Cherry trees have blossomed, weeds are sprouting back out of neglected flower beds and I am gradually purging my car of scarves and toques. And forgotten climbing partners are emerging from hibernation with thinly-veiled requests for belays. All good but I have let a few snow adventures pass unrecorded so thought I should catch up before the memories become too distant.

In the Sea to Sky corridor there are three main venues for backcountry skiing: the terrain beyond the resort at Whistler Blackcomb, Garibaldi Provincial Park above Squamish and the Duffey Lake area north of Pemberton. Of those, until this season, I had only really sampled Whistler meaningfully, probably because the access is so easy (lifts right into the alpine).

The most popular winter area within Garibaldi park is around the Elfin Lakes hut, which is approached from the Diamond Head road-head above Squamish. The road up to Diamond Head passes very close to our (old) house so I should really know that area very well. However, for the lazy, the full 12km hike to the hut is substantial. I have tried several times on foot in summer, with one or more kids in tow, but never managed to coax them much beyond the Red Heather shelter, about 500m vertically above the road-head. It doesn't help that that portion of the route (~5km) is almost entirely enclosed in trees, with nothing to distract from the grind, so it feels further than it really is. Early this winter I did do a few daytrips on my splitboard up to Round Mountain just above Red Heather, so at least had that section tamed. But making it all the way to Elfin itself had become a minor obsession.

Looking north-west from just south of Round Mountain

Luckily in February an old friend, Wolf, appeared in BC eager for some ski-touring. I had only one significant time window available, which fell straight after he arrived (flight from Frankfurt!), but it has just snowed heavily, which was a major incentive. Gamely he shrugged off his jetlag and we headed out. I wish I could report that we were rewarded by amazing weather and fantastic conditions but ... we weren't. Visibility was poor throughout and avalanche danger too high to allow any of the classic side-trips. However, for me, the hut was finally ticked.

Wolf and the Elfin

I had been warned that it could get busy at weekends. The place wasn't quite full but there were enough people for it to be moderately annoying. For some reason the hut is popular with snowshoers, for whom the sleep-over is the highlight, so they often turn up equipped to party. If I go again, I will try to make it mid-week outside the holidays and ideally timed with some clear weather. Wolf and I did at least find a few nice if short descents around the hut, and from Paul Ridge on the way back out, in ~20cm fresh powder. The other positive from this trip, and some other visits to the roadhead before and after, was the excellent performance of my 4Runner in the snow. I made it in and out several times on summer tires without chains whilst other people were having all sorts of problems.

Truck embedded in a snowbank just below the Diamond Head parking 

I also moved further up the learning curve with my splitboard, in particular dealing with skin transitions during heavy snowfall (not fun) and powder turns (theoretically fun but ...). I am grateful to Wolf for his patience during my frequent tantrums when struggling with both of these.

A few weeks later, I had some possible free time during the BC spring break. Luckily that coincided with Bob's interval between shifts and two days of clear weather forecast between snowstorms. Bob suggested we headed to the Duffey to stay at the Keith hut. Oddly I had never researched that area in any detail so had almost no preset expectations. Sometimes that can be the key ingredient for a really successful trip. Several things that I did not know about this area were a positive surprise: the mountains are really impressive (far more so than around Whistler); the hut is characterful; the approach time to gain the actual alpine terrain is reasonable (far shorter than at Elfin).

We were also very lucky with conditions. On day one, thanks to an insanely early start from Squamish, we were the first people to skin into the area after the previous day's storm. Until we got close to the hut there were no tracks visible at all, just blue sky, mountains, the forest and pristine snow. The next day was not quite so perfect but very atmospheric with light broken clouds. We both took many photographs, so, rather than give a detailed account, here are some of them (click then scroll through to view full size).

Mt Joffre from by the Anniversary Glacier moraine on the hut approach 

The Keith Hut

Or should it be "Keith's Hut"?

Mt Joffre from outside the hut

Looking down to the hut

Bob (who recently completed his AST2) digging a pit

Bob doing a column test on the snowpack 

Me on the edge of the Anniversary Glacier (we went right to traverse to a couloir on the NW face of the Joffre ridge)

Bob making the traverse

Looking up at the couloir (Bob just visible)

Bob making fresh tracks ... actually this whole valley was untracked

From our high point on the Matier sholder on day 2

Bob emerging from the cloud

Me starting our final descent ... we skied continuously to the valley floor seen down to the left (~700m vertical)

one BANANA, two BANANA, three BANANA, four

Lately I have been paying some attention to Squamish local politics. Possibly too much attention. Three main reasons for this: 1. it is not the climbing season, so I have had more free time than usual; 2. anyway I injured my wrist before new year and was in a cast for a month; 3. for a small town, there is plenty happening.

The easiest place to sample the town's controversies is Facebook Squamish Speaks, a tetchy discussion group on (obviously) Facebook. I experimented with joining in there, but after a while realised it was a path to madness. I do not think Facebook is well-suited to debate; it gets too personal too quickly. Real web forums that allow anonymity or semi-anonymity work better. That said, I have got to know some new people through the group, which has led to some interesting private conversations.

I felt like I wanted to distil what I have learned, so below is a short guide to the headline political issues; all private sector projects of various kinds. There are routine topics that are also important, like budget management by the local municipality (DoS: the District of Squamish), but I will leave those for another time, maybe.

For context - as I have written before - Squamish is a classic post-industrial town. Twenty years ago there were several large industrial employers including a pulp mill, saw mill, chemical plant and railway engineering works, supporting a substantial blue-collar workforce. But all those places were closed down by 2005. Now the largest employers are DoS, plus Walmart and Quest University; with jobs that require different skills - or pay less - than those that have disappeared. Over the same period, relatively low house prices have sucked in a growing number of young couples and families who mostly commute to work to either Whistler or Vancouver. They typically have different values to the longer-established residents: more environmentally-concerned and less sympathetic to the resource sector. So there's a definite political divide between the old and new "tribes". In relation to development proposals, that means there is always someone who is against any new proposal. However the biggest BANANAs are definitely found amongst the newer residents.

Also for context, here's a map:

I have tackled the topics in ascending order of popularity (as far as I can judge). Most-hated first.

Garibaldi at Squamish is a ski resort proposal for an alpine area just north of Squamish that has been concept-only for at least twenty years. It would totally transform the town as the tourist season is currently almost purely summer-only. In theory it is do-or-die time this year, as BC's Environment Assessment Agency are set to pronounce on it shortly, after which it is a political decision. The proponents say they will abandon the proposal if turned down. Recently they abandoned the lower-third of their proposal - a couple of golf courses and associated residential sites by the highway - in an apparent final bid to sway opinion.

People who seem to dislike this project: amazingly, given the obvious economic benefits, almost everyone in town. The organised opposition is an unusual coalition between snowmobilers (old tribe!), who cunningly obtained tenure of the threatened alpine area decades ago, and environmentalists (new tribe!), who fret about disruption of salmon rivers and some other things.

What I think: in favour, now that the proposal has been reduced to ski resort only. Brohm Ridge, the resort's focal point, has incredible views south and west, and should be a key backcountry access point, for example, for climbing Mt Garibaldi. Currently the snowmobile club restrict access with a locked gate on the forestry road, well below the alpine level.

What is going to happen: someone, whose opinion I trust, reckons 50:50 odds at this stage.

Woodfibre LNG is a proposal to build a small-scale gas liquefaction plant on the abandoned site of the Woodfibre pulp mill, until a decade ago one of Squamish's large employers and tax-payers. WLNG's investment would be more than a billion dollars, and would likely make them the biggest tax payer in Squamish by a large margin. The business will be there for at least 30 years and is estimated to create 300 jobs during the build phase and 100 permanent jobs once operating. The company will also provide training locally in industrial skills that are likely to be in high demand throughout BC, as the current provincial government was elected with a mandate to push LNG exports.

People who seem to dislike this project: all the environmentalists, who hate that a proportion of the gas will come from fracked sources in Northern BC, and that it will be shipped substantially to China, adding to that country's carbon emissions. And they fret about tankers in Howe Sound. One even admitted that she didn't much like the idea of Squamish filling up with blue-collar workers again (the snob!).

What I think: in favour as long as the company uses electricity to power the liquefaction, and doesn't instead burn gas on site. Squamish desperately needs new tax dollars and another large employer. And I am familiar with LNG plants from living in the Gulf; as industrial facilities go, they are clean and pretty unobtrusive within the landscape.

What is going to happen: it will go ahead, as it has strong political backing at the provincial level and there is little that DoS can do to obstruct. For example, the site is already zoned for heavy industrial use.  

Squamish Oceanfront is a large parcel of de-commissioned industrial land, where the Squamish river delta meets the ocean. DoS acquired it for a dollar about ten years ago. Though it was initially ring-fenced from the municipal finances within a special purpose company - the "SODC" - large amounts of debt have since been accumulated through dubious spending on consultants, then, in an act of monumental stupidity under the previous mayor, that debt was guaranteed by the municipality, so that we taxpayers are now all liable. However, after years lying unwanted and serving as little more than a dog toilet, a developer is apparently negotiating with the council to build on the land. Just in time, as SODC has to make the first debt repayment in May this year. As I understand it, any development has to follow a template established through community consultation: mixed residential and business use with a hotel and public areas.

People who seem to dislike this project: A previous prospective developer was chased out of town in 2006, apparently because of local political infighting. But after years of controversy and failure to do anything with the site, interest within the town in this project has become jaded and apathetic. Sadly, people generally seem too financially illiterate to understand how nefariously it has been managed.

What I think: I'd like to see the site bought and the debt paid off. However, if that does not happen soon, it should be made into a park, then the municipality restructure the debt. Either way, there should be a very thorough enquiry into how the debt was accumulated).

What is going to happen: Hard to know. A well-informed source told me that the cost of bringing services (sewage, etc) out to the land makes profitable development impossible.

Sea-to-Sky Gondola does not really belong in this list, as it has already been approved and will be running from May this year, but it is illustrative of inconsistent public opinion! In 2004 a developer tried to gain permission to build a gondola to the top of the Chief from a private land parcel by the highway. Thankfully the proposal was defeated and a covenant placed on the land to prevent any recurrence. However, another group (possibly whilst consulting to the SODC) dreamed up the clever work-round of running a gondola to a higher view point above and to the side of the Chief, thus reducing the opposition. They still had to win approval to annex a strip of land from the provincial park; an awkward precedent fought hard by some access purists. Generally it seems that pushing the tourist dollar benefits to Squamish whilst wooing the outdoor lobby with promises of improved backcountry access tipped the scales in their favour.

People who seem to dislike this project: As mentioned, a small group. Otherwise, oddly few people, given that the thing will be a visual eyesore (a reason touted widely for opposing the LNG plant nearby).

What I think: Vaguely in favour but the (failed) opposition include some people for whom I have great respect. Improved access to the alpine terrain there (including Mt Habrich which I climbed in 2012) is a definite plus.

What is going to happen: Hopefully it will be a success.


Squamish Valley Music Festival an event run by brand.LIVE, a Vancouver firm, has been taking place in August for several successive summers. However from 2014 the council have approved a greater than doubling of event capacity and an expanded footprint across the town's business park and sports fields. The negotiations took place "in camera" so there is little detail except that the deal is for eight more years. This year's headliners will include Bruno Mars, Arcade Fire and Eminem.

People who seem to dislike this project: In 2013 the event gridlocked the town for a day. High official camping charges encouraged visitors to look for free sites, mostly in sensitive riparian areas (bad for the salmon!). And bins at the site overflowed causing garbage to blow across town. In 2014, with vastly larger attendance, these problems are certain to mushroom. But, bizarrely, almost everyone in town is in favour! The limited opposition are people living close to the site and various sport user groups (for example, much of the town's soccer field capacity is being closed for a month).

What I think: Nothing exemplifies the collective idiocy of Squamish than this event! The municipality and organisers hype the positive economic impacts, yet mid-summer is already when the town is at its busiest, whilst the gridlock and mess will surely piss off the people from all over the world who visit Squamish to climb or ride the MTB trails. The short term nature of the event means no new jobs will be created. Major music festivals usually take root organically (ie Glastonbury) or are foisted on towns that otherwise have nothing else to offer the world; Squamish fits neither category.

What is going to happen: It seems unlikely that eight years can pass without something going badly wrong with this event. Hopefully, when that happens, it will be revealed that the council had the foresight to build break-clauses into the contract and can tell brand.LIVE to go find some other small town to trash - but I fear otherwise.