Grouse Mountain has cleaned up a heap of old oil drums, a fuel tank and a car battery left to decay on the mountainside for several decades.
The rusting mess was on Grouse property between the BCMC Trail and the Cut ski run since the area used to house private cabins.
"The area where the barrels were found is located near an unofficial trail that is sometimes referred to as the Simic Trail. It is proximate to the BCMC Trail. The location is overgrown and we were not aware that there was any debris in the area," said Jacqueline Blackwell, Grouse Mountain spokeswoman.
Grouse staff only became aware of the old drums and tank when contacted by the North Shore News, Blackwell said. A local hiker alerted the North Shore News to the cache with an anonymous letter after smelling diesel fumes in the area and following them to their source.
The mess has since been cleaned up, Blackwell said. "We immediately took steps to clean up the debris. The battery found at the site where the barrels were also discovered has been properly disposed of and the barrels have been removed," she wrote
in an email. "While there is no indication of soil contamination, we do plan to engage an independent third party environmental firm to test for confirmation. Should any evidence of environmental impact be discovered, we will conduct any additional cleanup but we are confident that this area and the surrounding environment remain in satisfactory condition."
The North Shore backcountry once had hundreds of cabins built before the area became park or resort land, according to Alex Douglas, a local history buff with an interest in
Mount Seymour's cabins.
"All over the North Shore, there was cabins, most on Hollyburn, Grouse and Seymour," he said. "These young kids would just go up and build these cabins."
They grew in popularity among European immigrants, many of whom used to do day labour humping materials up the mountain. "They would get hired a dollar a day to cart woodstoves and things up the mountains to the cabins," he said.
While most of the cabins are now gone, there are still remnants, including more oil drums, in some locations, Douglas said.
