After two weeks of being smoked in, the rain finally came and the skies have cleared.
From the beginning of August, Squamish was under a haze of smoke from wildfires burning in the Interior of B.C.
Squamish’s air quality was rated as “high risk” for weeks, leading the Ministry of Environment to issue a Smoky Skies Bulletin recommending residents avoid strenuous outdoor activities.
The bulletin was finally lifted on Sunday as the rain and a southwesterly wind moved the smoke back into the interior as predicted, according to Environment Canada.
While for some local businesses the smoke only registered as a blip on their bottom line, others have been hit hard during the usually lucrative tourist season.
Businesses that take customers into the air or companies and events that involve strenuous activity felt the impact the most.
The smoke caused some hardship for Glacier Air, for example.
Planes have been grounded for seven days, forcing the company to cancel numerous flight lessons, charter flights and tours, owner Colette Morin told The Chief late last week.
“Thousands of dollars lost in revenue with nothing we can do about it,” she said.
Glacier Air also runs a flight school and the interruption in training has caused some students to delay flight tests.
One student went home to Quebec early because she was unable to finish her
training before having to go back to work, Morin said.
“In the past we have had the occasional day or two of smoke, but I have never seen smoke from fires keep us grounded for so long.”
At Sea to Sky Air, flights were impacted as well, but the company’s president Carlo Galvani said it was “just another of the many challenges of running a tourism business in B.C., much like the other seasonal variables that we have to contend with such as low snow, high rainfall, warm Januarys or cold Julys.”
“While we can certainly fly in the smoke, it does not allow us to deliver our sightseeing experiences to their full potential,” he said.
Smoke didn’t impact Squamish Days Loggers Sports Fest
The company is working with sightseeing customers to schedule alternative dates, Galvani said.
Eric Dumerac of Mountain Skills Academy and Adventures, which offers guided climbing and mountaineering tours, told The Chief while views were impacted, those who went on trips at the height of the smoke did not show any negative physical reactions, though he noted clients seemed thirstier than usual.
Business picks up
Some companies in Squamish report actually having gained business from the smoke.
At the Squamish Adventure Centre, in July staff noticed a “very slight dip” in visitors over last year at the same time, according to Lesley Weeks, executive director of Tourism Squamish, but so far in August, things have actually picked up.
“Some visitors are even commenting that they rerouted their vacations from the Interior of B.C. to the coast due to the smoke,” Weeks told The Chief.
Local hoteliers have also told Weeks they are slightly up over last year and have yet to be affected by the smoke, she said.
The Britannia Mine Museum reported a slight increase over this period last year and is attributing it to visitors choosing a less active option, Weeks added.
Squamish Adventure Centre staff have seen a shift in the information visitors are requesting.
“Visitors are seeking out less active adventure options and some are choosing to remain in the valley as opposed to getting up into the alpine to mountain bike and hike like they may have planned,” she said.
Graham Young at Canadian Outback Rafting said overall the business has been minimally impacted.
Several clients have told him that they were originally planning to go to the Interior and opted for the coast instead. That said, the company has also had several, mainly U.S. groups cancel their entire trip to B.C. including their rafting trip.
Most cancellations were several days in advance, but some people waited to see if the air would clear and cancelled as late as the morning of their trip, he said.
Despite the dry weather and hazy air, the Sea to Sky Gondola hasn’t had to close any of the trails due to smoke this summer.
Kirby Brown, general manager of the gondola, said the attraction had a “fantastic July and a challenging start to August.”
“Although the smoke is affecting the views and more strenuous activities, guests are enjoying more laid back options including walks, axe throwing, the Talking Trees Tours and our restaurant at the summit,” he told The Chief.
Brown was careful to keep his businesses’ fortunes in perspective.
“We would never want to complain about smoke when others in the province are facing fire,” he said.
The Squamish Days Loggers Sports Festival, likely the biggest tourist event of the season, which was held at the height of the smoke on Aug. 3 to 7, didn’t suffer due to the outdoor conditions, according to organizers.
For the Kettle Boil, where teams compete to see who can get their water to boil over in the fastest time, organizer Jacqulin McNicol said attendance was the same or maybe even higher than last year, with approximately 400 people attending and 25 teams participating in the event.
The bed races saw 11 teams compete, which is comparable to other years, according to organizer Russ Robertson.
Approximately 500 people showed up to cheer the teams on despite the smoke, he said.
The 8k Race had fewer than half the normal morning entries, which director Tim Moore attributed to the poor air quality.
“We had about 25 people register in the hour ahead of the start, compared with 50 to 75 in previous years,” he said.
In the end, while there were fewer overall registrations, more people finished the 8k than the previous year. Moore attributed this result to the fact that the race is part of the Lifestages Lower Mainland Road Race Series and athletes seeking to secure points in the series were motivated to race.
The smoke did not have a huge impact on the Squamish Days parade, both the number of floats and general attendance were up this year compared to last year, organizer Sean Soper said.
In terms of the actual loggers sports, many more competitors registered this year than in previous years, according to show secretary Debbie Patterson. There were about 80 competitors on Saturday for the novice show and 70 on Sunday for the open show. Typically 50 to 60 competitors compete each day.
Spectator attendance was up both days by about 500 people each day. Saturday saw close to 2,000 people and Sunday just shy of 3,600 people were in the stands, Patterson said.
Approximately 140 wildfires are still burning across the province, but the winds forecast for this week mean that Squamish residents and tourists should be breathing easy, at least in the short term.
“We are expecting the winds from the upper level to come from the west, so we will continue to have an onshore flow… so that will help to confine the smoke in the Interior,” said Cindy Uyu, meteorologist with Environment Canada.
