Ya know what? I have over-reacted with the "fuck unions" nonsense. They are a necessary part of the economy/social fabric in some cases. So I shouldn't have gone that psycho over them.
Wrong. Always.
Ya know what? I have over-reacted with the "fuck unions" nonsense. They are a necessary part of the economy/social fabric in some cases. So I shouldn't have gone that psycho over them.
Wrong. Always.
Well that wasn't as sloppy as I was expecting given the recent deluge.
I see some remediation has been done to the junction of Mel's and GJ, and further down that drop right before the power line has been "rolled".
Some pink flagging and signs saying "seasonal closure" are new?
Was that my last "seasonal" ride down GJ?
Freedom of contract. We sell them guns that kill them; they sell us drugs that kill us.
Well that wasn't as sloppy as I was expecting given the recent deluge.
I see some remediation has been done to the junction of Mel's and GJ, and further down that drop right before the power line has been "rolled".
Some pink flagging and signs saying "seasonal closure" are new?
Was that my last "seasonal" ride down GJ?
We have been advised by the City of Burnaby that the repairs to Gearjammer have been completed and that it is officially open for riding. Not sure what the "seasonal closure" signs mean, but unless we receive information to the contrary feel free to ride both Gearjammer and Uppercut.
Seasonal Closure signs are up. Which means the trail is closed for the season. Really it's a liability disclaimer, but regardless, it means that it's soft and winter.
I'd respect the signs for GJ for now. Unfortunately the trail work was done during a period of heavy rains and then the seasonal closure signs were disregarded and riders and hikers went down the soft trail cutting it up. So it never really packed down. Heavy rains further accentuated this and upper GearJammer is more or less washed out again. Below Mel's, it has held up better, but there are still seasonal closure signs up that likely should be respected.
I've been told that over the next few weeks, the water flows coming from the road culverts above will be re-worked, giving Gear Jammer a break from being the "stream channel". This should help reduce erosion on the trail and ideally limit the problems plaguing Gear Jammer this year. The trail will then be re-worked again (ideally during a dry spell). During this time, there will likely be closures. It would really help the trail if they were honored.
On that note, I was talking to a trail guy from Burnaby and he noted that Sunday's storm created significant problems across the mountain. Part of Barnet Trail (basically a service road) was completely washed out. Some of Hang Your Hat was washed out. Submarine Creek overflowed and washed out some of the trail by the Velodrome. Nicole's was a river flowing down the trail; the switchbacks were particularly affected.
Almost time to go skiing instead….
Ran into a few people riding gear jammer when it's closed. Tip for BMBA - paint that chain at the bottom safety orange before a law suit happens. One of the riders hit it at full speed and messed up his hand pretty bad(lots of blood)
oh that's rich, i can see the storyline now:
"Nobody really gives a shit that you don't like the thing that you have no firsthand experience with." Dave
it's a liability disclaimer,
:cool:
Had an opportunity to do a real close up inspection of the decking on what I believe was the first structure down slope of the junction w/Mels.
Trouble was I was grimacing so hard I didn't actually get all that good a look at it but I'm guessing it wasn't the same split cedar decking like on the structures on Lower Snake amiright?
So it never really packed down. Heavy rains further accentuated this and upper GearJammer is more or less washed out again. Below Mel's, it has held up better,
Didn't come down upper GJ but the junction of the two is still messed up. Below that it seems pretty firm and except for some run-off cutting on the inside of switchbacks it doesn't seem too bad.
Did I mention that the wood work is slippery? Oh baby ……whimper….moan….
Freedom of contract. We sell them guns that kill them; they sell us drugs that kill us.
A quality crew will be fixing the flow issues on Gear Jammer, rather than just trying to band-aid the trail. This will likely mean that the trail will have closures coming up, so please respect that.
They will be starting at the outfall off the road, so not on the trail, as this is where the water is coming from, and now finds its way directly to the trail due to the blow-out issues from January. They will be adding a settlement area to slow the flow and then re-construct the more natural water channels.
Water will still come to GJ, but it will be at flows that are more traditional. The crew will then go onto the trail, get water flowing back to the sumps they used to flow to. The will then armour all the drainage on Upper GJ and repair bridge footings and repack the trail surface.
We have a week of dry weather, so hopefully a good chunk can get done this week, but if the trail is closed, it's because stuff is soft and/or in a state of repair, so respecting signage will go a long way. Ideally the work can get done, but relies on dry weather, so may be intermittent over the next while. Patience will go a long way in making GJ's issued finally resolved.
^^ slick. thanks in advance.
Closure signs are up. Guys will hopefully be done by mid-week next week given the good weather. They will be working on the weekend (at least Saturday). Lots of other trails to ride on the mountain.
The boy and I headed for a quick lap around 11:00 today (Sunday). Typical loop. Parked North Road, rode up North Road Trails, up Trans Canada, up Cardiac and then down Naheno and Nicole's.
Everything, up or down, left or right, super fast and tacky. Couple more days of good riding until the rain comes back. Weather is perfect. So good, in fact, the the Mrs. and I hit a couple laps of Eagle in the afternoon with similar results.
GJ will likely be done by Wednesday.
GJ will be opened by end of day tomorrow. It will be interesting to watch the transition to rain between Wednesday and Friday and see if the trail stays in place and stays dry.
A pretty aggressive approach to water management on the upper section to eliminate the erosion problems. Sadly the trail crew got a bit slowed down, especially on the weekend, given the number of folks riding and hiking a clearly signed closed trail.
NOTE: a couple of temporary bridges of dimensional lumber were put in place to watch over the winter to see if they would be sufficient in scale. They will be replaced by natural bridges. So don't git yer knickers in a twist.
Pretty heavy-duty armouring and drainage solution to the intersection with Mel's, where this had become a 2' deep blow-out/cascade.
The trail edges were continually being undercut by water flows and seepages on Upper GJ. The idea was a french drain on the water conveying side of the trail. Basically excavated out over a foot, installed erosion fabric, dropped in clear crush, wrapped this into a conveyance "sock" and then backfilled with more clear crush. This should dramatically slow water flow rates and keep the trail in place. It'll look more in situ over time. Water will not overflow onto the trail as it has in the past.
Climbed up Mel's to Upper GJ this morning and it's perhaps the most brilliant climb around right now. Super buff. Burnaby seems to have even done some filling on Mel's, making a couple of the rooty sections completely climbable.
Upper GJ trail is still closed, but should open end of day today. They've just got to move the mini-ex back up the trail, backfilling it's ruts on the way out and re-establishing a couple berms and some veg.
Lots of signs of people blasting it last night, with many many many skid marks as they come around the corner to face the the mini-ex parked in the middle of the trail. Survival of the fittest. That's why the closed signs are up. I was travelling in the slow direction and doing a "trail inspection".
Climbed up this morning after the big rain last night and GJ had no water flowing on the trail. Fingers crossed that things keep working. Tomorrow will be a big test with a pretty big storm expected. Best to just stay off the trail tomorrow as the surface is still new and soft.
That said, at the intersection of GJ and Mel's, folks now have to take a wider "flow killer" turn, as the old ditch and right hand cut has been closed and turned into a proper drainage channel.
Sadly, some idiots have already tried to short cut the turn to straighten it out right above the new drainage channel. This will destroy the channel and create a new erosion ditch. A blockage has now been put in place… please do not short cut, as this will waste a lot of good work and relationships with the City.
Strava times really aren't that important. And it's GJ… a blue trail. It's by no means a world cup DH track. Stay on the trail and learn how to ride a flat corner instead of short-cutting. A proper DHer should know how to ride a flat corner!
Climbed up Mel's to Upper GJ this morning and it's perhaps the most brilliant climb around right now. Super buff. Burnaby seems to have even done some filling on Mel's, making a couple of the rooty sections completely climbable.
climbed it from trans canada (north) end or the road (south) end? it's kind of a shame to hear they've buffed out Mel's as there was really only one spot that wasn't climbable; the hump over the roots and then between two trees about midpoint just past a bridge. that one switchback from the north end where you had to muscle over the root/1ft drop is doable.
having mel's as a tech climb is one of the things that makes bby mtn great.
We don't know what our limits are, so to start something with the idea of being limited actually ends up limiting us.
Ellen Langer
climbed it from trans canada (north) end or the road (south) end? it's kind of a shame to hear they've buffed out Mel's as there was really only one spot that wasn't climbable; the hump over the roots and then between two trees about midpoint just past a bridge. that one switchback from the north end where you had to muscle over the root/1ft drop is doable.
having mel's as a tech climb is one of the things that makes bby mtn great.
Buffed is very relative. They more fixed up some areas where the trail was sloughing off the side. Still plenty of rooty humps to muscle up.
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