Mudslide, erosion closes Boulder Mountain to snowmobile activity

Access to the main snowmobiling area near Revelstoke, Boulder Mountain, is closed following a mudslide on the forest road leading to the area.

The Revelstoke Snowmobile Club, which co-operates on the Jordan River Forest Service Road and maintains it with grooming machines during the winter, made the announcement on Dec. 2, 2021.

Teena Rumak, general manager of the Revelstoke Snowmobile Club (RSC), said the mudslide happened on a switchback section on the Jordan River FSR located about 1-1.5 kilometres from the start of the road.

The mudslide sent logs and debris across the road and also led to a stream of water running along a ditch in the road, eroding and damaging it.

An image of water eroding the Jordan River Forest Service Road on Dec. 2, 2021. The road leads to the Boulder Mountain snowmobiling area in winter. Photo: Revelstoke Snowmobile Club

Rumak said the RSC is one of several groups that uses the roadway, which is a forest service road owned by the Crown. She said forests ministry geo-technical workers visited the washout site today and were investigating.

Rumak said the situation is new and that there is no timeline on what happens next at this point. Revelstokemountaineer.com has reached out to the B.C. forests ministry and will file another story when more indication of next steps are available.

The other main snowmobiling area within very close proximity to Revelstoke is Frisby Ridge. Rumak said the club is monitoring that road and it remains open. There are several other snowmobling areas in the vicinity of Revelstoke.

File photo: Revelstoke Snowmobile Club director Mark Joiner and club executive director Tina Rumak at an April 11, 2019 meeting. Photo: Aaron Orlando/Revelstoke Mountaineer

The washout comes after the third of a wave of atmospheric rivers swept over B.C., dropping record precipitation in some areas and soaking the southern half of the province.

The warm weather systems have also melted early season snowpack and led to precipitation on snow at high altitudes.

“We are lucky compared to a lot of snowmobile clubs,” Rumak said, noting that the November, 2021 B.C. storms have impacted several snowmobile clubs.

She said the Coquihalla Snowmobile Club had essentially cancelled its season, and that the Fernie Snowmobile Association had experienced bridge washouts impacting its trails in mid-November.

“It’s going to have a big impact on snowmobile tourism in the province,” Rumak said of the storms.

A recent economic impact study completed by the RSC estimated that snowmobile tourism brings about $31.2 million in economic activity to Revelstoke annually.