Southerly Struggles
AvCan Vancouver Island,
Thursday 21st December, 2023 3:50PM
With the lack of snow we are currently dealing with on the Island, we are using the good road travel conditions as an opportunity to explore new access points. Landale was a fail last year. So this time we approached it from a whole new angle, the Cowichan lake side. The widow main gate was open. So make sure you have a radio due to logging in the area. We could drive to ~700 m when the road narrowed significantly. Sled travel would be possible at this point. We set out on foot about 1.5 km along the trail and found 20 cm of moist snow on the road. None in the forest. At this point we found a hole/washout that will impassable by machines. Here’s to another attempt, maybe 3rd time will be the charm?
While in the area we thought we would check out popular ski area Heather Mountain. What we found instead was one access point had active hauling and the road is impassable. While the other we encountered a locked gate. We still aren’t deterred! South Island we will be back! (hopefully with more snow)


Location: 48.94249985 -124.21854777