Worst act of vandalism in 17 years: SORCA president
Sylvie Paillard
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Mountain bikers and dirt bikers are once again in heated debate, this time over what is being called a "cowardly" and "mean-spirited act" of vandalism.
Two visiting mountain bikers from Canmore discovered "To Hell With Darwin" bridge over Ring Creek destroyed on Monday afternoon. The bridge is a popular structure crucial to the annual Gearjammer race and Test of Metal training that allows quick access to the Powerhouse Plunge and an end to the Ring Creek Rip.
"Right now we don't know who is responsible but whoever it is they are definitely sending some sort of statement," said Squamish Off-Road Cycling Association (SORCA) president Cliff Miller. "I have lived here 17 years and this is right up there with the stupidest acts of vandalism I have ever seen."
The destruction of the log bridge has renewed tension between SORCA and the Squamish Dirt Bike Association (SDBA) who have fought over the use of the crossing for over a year, according to SDBA president Andrew Lurbiecki.
"There's quite a long story to that bridge," he said. "It's not as simple as they [mountain bikers] are making it out to be."
Approximately one year ago SORCA and SDBA discussed widening the bridge to accommodate dirt bikes. The discussion prompted dirt bikers to go ahead and widen the bridge, but the new structure was met with the mountain biking community's disapproval. About a month later the dirt bikers' work was taken out.
Dirt bikers rebuilt a few times only to have the work repeatedly destroyed, according to Lurbiecki.
SORCA finally contacted the Ministry of Forests over the SDBA's work and the 10-year old bridge was condemned.
The SDBA, SORCA and various ministries have been in negotiations to build another bridge for eight months. In the meantime, mountain bikers continue to use the bridge while dirt bikers cannot. The delays over a new bridge caused frustration in the dirt biking community, according to Lurbiecki.
"So I guess someone just got fed up in the last little while, I don't know what happened, but somebody cut the thing down," he said. "It would not have been one of our members. Our club would never condone an act like that. But it's pretty clear it was dirt bikers."
A SDBA website forum containing several comments regarding the destruction of the bridge highlights the tension between the groups.
"Mountain bikers vandalized the bridge many times over the last eight months, and now they wonder why it got taken out," states one writer. "Maybe if they could learn to share instead of thinking everything is there's. Now no one gets to use it, nice going!"
The forum also contained numerous postings from mountain bikers:"Mountain bikers are the ones who lost here and mountain bikers have a right to be a little pissed about the way this whole thing went down. So if you want to be a part of the solution instead of the problem maybe you could stop taking chainsaws to our crossings and learn how to negotiate without threats and bullying."
Chris McCrumb, trails director for SORCA, said efforts are already underway to rebuild. The organization will work with the Ministries of Environment, of Forests and of Tourism, Sports and Arts as well as with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to ensure a new steel structure meets with environmental and engineering constraints.
Tim Hoskin, Squamish forest recreation officer for the Ministry of Tourism, Sports and Arts, said the province is involved with both groups and is awaiting SORCA's proposal for a new bridge.
"We're dealing with the groups and we're trying to diffuse this situation. We'll hopefully be meeting with both groups tomorrow (Friday, June 2)," said Hoskin. "I am in the process of coming up with a strategy to deescalate the situation."
Miller said in a best case scenario, a bridge - at least a temporary one - will be reestablished within two weeks. In the worse case scenario, it would take months.
Gearjammer organizer Curtis Roberts said he had a "very worrying 24 hours" following the news of the bridge's destruction, but he's now confident the race will go ahead as scheduled on July 23.
Lurbiecki said his organization wants to help in any way they can.
"We always thought eventually we could replace the bridge together, those two groups," he said. "Our group is prepared to do whatever it takes, resources, materials, whatever it takes to build that bridge."
