Forbidden Plateau
Vancouver Island's pioneer ski hill, home to the island's first T-bar and first chairlift, finished off in 1999 by a collapsed lodge roof and a diesel spill a week after it reopened.
- Region
- British Columbia
- Country
- Canada
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- 1966
- Year closed
- 1999
- Reason for closure
- A third of the day lodge roof gave way under heavy snow in 1999. The area was uninsured at the time and the damage was put at around 250,000 dollars. A week after operations resumed, a valve on the diesel tank failed and released more than 5,000 litres of fuel, contaminating a stream and the well water at nearby cabins. The area never operated again.
History
Forbidden Plateau lies about 22 km west of Courtenay on Vancouver Island, below Mount Becher. Skiing there goes back to the 1920s, when people walked up from the village of Bevan, and the lift-served area opened in 1966 under the name Wood Mountain Ski Park. It was the island pioneer: the first T-bar on Vancouver Island went in here in 1965 and the first chairlift in 1972. Its ending was a run of bad luck rather than a slow decline. In 1999 heavy snow brought down a third of the day lodge roof; the operation was uninsured and the repair was costed at roughly 250,000 dollars. A week after it managed to resume, a valve on the diesel tank that powered the lifts broke and more than 5,000 litres of fuel escaped, contaminating a stream and the well water serving nearby cabins. That was the end of it. For nearly two decades the buildings and the chairlift stood rotting on the mountainside, a fixture for hikers and snowshoers coming up to Mount Becher, until the province approved a clean-up that began in the autumn of 2017 with the removal of the lodge foundation, three other buildings and the diesel tanks. Run names and lift manufacturers are not recorded in accessible sources.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | T-Bar | Installed 1965 and the first T-bar on Vancouver Island | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift | Installed 1972 and the first chairlift on Vancouver Island. Left standing and derelict after the 1999 closure |
Sources and further reading
- https://www.forbiddenskihill.ca/
- https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/cover-stories/whistler-dead-season-tales-of-abandoned-bc-ski-resorts-6951989
- https://www.bcmag.ca/where-to-find-bcs-abandoned-ski-hills/
- https://www.campbellrivermirror.com/news/province-gives-green-light-to-clean-up-of-abandoned-ski-hill-1467049
More in Canada
Location
49.6832, -125.3168