The rocky mountains of Canada are world renowned for their beautiful scenery. They should be known for their abandoned mines, old school underground mines. Human labour was plentiful and extracting ore and minerals from the rocks was cheapest by human intensive means. Shafts and tunnels were dug and core samples used to identify areas worth excavating. There ore rich areas were dug out leaving massive ore chambers below the mountains. Some of the ore chambers are so large Anymouse and Fyrephreak thought they were standing outside the mine, until they realised they couldn't see any stars.
Once the returns diminished sufficiently these types of underground operations were generally abandoned in favour of open pit mining with massive mechanised ore extraction. This leaves the urbanish explorer with lots to do - think Indiana Jones.
One such underground mine is a short hop, skip and a 4hr drive from Calgary. Access into the mine is gained upon the third of twelve levels (counting from the top) through a small mouse hole. The mine was closed in the ~50s and since then nobody has explored past the 3rd level. The ladders were stripped for salvage value so how does one get between the levels? With a rope of course. Confident from our SRT successes in Niagara we planned to rappel the main 210m elevator shaft connecting levels 3 through 7. The mine is ~450m top to bottom.
Anymouse, Fyrephreak, Skaught and I had our respective secretaries clear our schedules and began hasty preparations. We amassed the following items for the trip:
Snowmobile
Skaught and Anymouse purchased a snow mobile, 1981 vintage. While is may not possess the sleek lines of the modern mobiles it does possess great fighting spirit and brick-like aerodynamic properties. I've not yet heard of any urban explorers purchasing a snowmobile to access their locations - the Calgary folks mean business! Of course there's no point getting to the mine sans tools so...
Frankenstein's Sled
We share fond memories of the mighty sled, constructed in a crazed frenzy by two industrial surgeons under the dim glow of the workshop lights. Urged on by the howling blizzard that battered the shutters the saws danced and the drills spun, melding the simple raw materials into a mongrel man conglomeration of miscellaneous body parts. When the dust settled it stood proud amongst the scattered offcuts and carnage left by why can only be termed a DIY orgy. The indestructible Sled Of Frankenstein. Part Walmart, part milk crate, past plastic cooler/eksy; all business. Our chariot had arrived.
Sled on the roof - photo: Anymouse
Other items of note included:
- generator and fuel
- hammer drill, spare bits, anchors
- 160m static rope, srt hardware
- emergency supplies, shovels, first aid kit, flares
- cameras of course, gotta get the uer props right?!?!
All the above was strapped, slung, bolted or pigeonholed into the van and westward we ventured into the province of British Columbia.
Locked, loaded and ready to go we trundled into the mountains aboard the snowmobile (sm). It was an odd sight indeed with 2 people riding on the sm and 2 in the sled with our pile of gear. Equipped with shallow treads the sm handled the hard packed trails okay, but quickly failed in the deep powder. Frankenstein's Sled slowed the sm considerably and we scarcely made it 500m into the trek when the sm was dug out for the last time and turned back towards the car. We'd have been more successful harnessing the seemingly plentiful supply of furries in Calgary and whipping them into submission as a sledding team.
Repairs. Notice the fine sled constuction - photo by Anymouse
Another trail was explored but it ran off in the opposite direction, taking us further and further from the mine access road. Repairs were made to the sm and it was called a day. We'd failed to get even close to the mine entrance. With more favourable conditions we'll return and make it happen.
On the following day we reccied another mine and Skaught drove the sm off the side of the mountain. We learned a number of things over the weekend:
- Old snowmobile engines can be temperamental. Don't overprime them: 2 pumps are sufficient.
- Old snowmobiles with shallow tracks will dig themselves down a long way in soft powder.
- Old snowmobiles need to have their carbies jetted to survive high altitude mobiling.
- Ghetto sleds do work, nylon rope is a poor choice for attaching them.
- Stay low on the berm when cornering, do not hit the gas.
- Roll off the snowmobile BEFORE it launches over the mountain edge.
- The cost of extracting a snowmobile from side of said mountain is 96 cans of beer.
- Walking 2 hours down the mountain in the snow because you lost the snowmobile is troublesome.
- A 2 million CP (cp!??!) spotlight makes a great signal light.
- Always, ALWAYS talk to the locals. They know about mine entrance that you do not.
And from Anymouse:
- Adult supervision is required if Skaught is driving a snowmobile.
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13 Comment(s)
s/// your torana wouldn't have gotten enough traction if I know you well enough. Bald tires on ice fail.