Over the past couple of weeks, crews have made their way into the base area, in the vicinity of the base of the Huckleberry Chairlift. Work within this area is substantially more complicated than it is up on the mountains due to the presence of existing utilities such as gas lines, phone lines, and water lines.
CROSSING HAIG CREEK –
With water line and electrical typically being buried 5 + feet underground, crossing Haig Creek via the existing skier bridge presented a challenge. The goal for our team is to ensure that waterline won’t freeze during the winter season, hence the reason it is being buried so deep into the ground. With only perhaps 1 – 1.5 feet of earth on top of the bridge, burying the lines at the required depth just isn’t possible. To solve this problem, the waterline over the bridge is insulated, heat-traced, and then covered to ensure that water within the line won’t freeze when it’s…well…freezing outside!
Waterline shown here with insulating panels underneath
Waterline in the midst of being covered up w/ insulation underneath
WORKING UNDER HUCKLEBERRY CHAIR –
With our annual Huckleberry Festival coming up, August 23 – 25, it might be a little odd to see the Huckleberry Chairlift without chairs on it. Chairs were taken off so that crews could perform maintenance on the lower terminal of the lift and, while that’s now complete, the chairs will remain off until excavation under the chairlift for our snowmaking installation is complete. As work enters the base area, things start to slow down due to the presence of existing utilities in the ground. Gas, water, sewer, and telephone services can be found running through the base area, servicing cabins and homes of our residents. Prior to mass excavation, a vac (vacuum) truck was brought in to confirm the location of utilities, ensuring that they were where our maps indicated they were supposed to be!
PUMP HOUSE WORK CONTINUES –
A building permit has been issued to us, by the MD of Pincher Creek, for the construction of our new pump house. Concrete is expected to go in the ground sometime this week, for the foundation of this building. Otherwise, all required connections into our underground waterlines, from the pump house, have been made.
