Coming to a frozen giant's defence

GRANT SHILLING 
Special to The Globe and Mail (March 2007)

COURTENAY -- The majestic Comox glacier in Strathcona Provincial Park stands
6,430 feet above sea level. Ruth Masters, 86, stands, if one is generous,
about five feet. Despite the difference in scale, both Ms. Masters and the
glacier are icons of the Comox Valley. 

Now the elfin Ms. Masters is coming to the snowy giant's defence. The
shortest and most accessible route to the glacier, known as the Comox
Glacier Trail, is over land privately owned by TimberWest Forest Ltd. The
company has announced plans to log access to the glacier, beginning this
spring. 

Ms. Masters, who has "clawed her way up the glacier" six times since 1938 --
most recently in 1991 at the age of 71 -- wants the trail preserved.

The Comox glacier is the largest on Vancouver Island. The only way onto it
is on foot. The glacier has been a destination for hikers since the first
explorers reached the site in 1922.

Ms. Masters sits in the kitchen of her Courtenay home and pores over a chart
showing a visitor the routes she has taken up the glacier, beginning at the
age of 18.

Ms. Masters says she believes TimberWest can be persuaded not to log the
trail. She recalls that her early hikes were actually made with the help of
logging companies. She made her first two ascents in 1938 and 1952, via
Comox, Willemar and Frobisher lakes. To cross Willemar Lake required a
tugboat provided by logging companies for hikers.

In 1965, a logger friend pointed out a shorter route to the glacier to Ms.
Masters and members of the Comox District Mountaineering Club cleared the
path, "with a lot of sweat and hard work," to build what is now known as the
Comox Glacier Trail.

The current hike in and out to the glacier takes about three days (it's
about nine kilometres) in reasonable weather for strong hikers. The
alternate routes are either more difficult (suitable for experienced
climbers only) or are significantly longer.

Ms. Masters was born and raised in the Comox Valley. She has spent much of
her life hiking the Valley, Mt. Beecher and Forbidden Plateau. She became an
environmental activist over issues concerning Strathcona Park, which she had
come to appreciate from her years of active enjoyment of the lakes,
mountains and forests. 

Ms. Masters has been responsible for the naming of more than 50 sites in the
provincial park - often for departed Comox Valley veterans of the First and
Second World Wars. A veteran herself, Ms. Masters was stationed in London
during the Second World War. 

"You realize how precious Canada is when you see it this big in the distance
and realize it could be your last look."

After she dies, a lake in Strathcona Park -- "more a puddle," she says,
self-deprecatingly -- is to be named Ruth Masters Lake in her honour. 

Ms. Masters's living room and kitchen have files piled on every surface,
labelled Bear file, Glacier file, Clayoquot file, among others. She writes
letters regularly to politicians and travels to many protests in her pickup
truck with camper.

In her fight to save the Comox Glacier Trail, Ms. Masters has teamed up with
the Federation of Mountain Clubs.

Evan Loveless, 39, is executive director of organization. The federation has
asked TimberWest to leave a minimum-width buffer zone on both sides of the
trail, but the company says a buffer might make harvesting unprofitable.
Instead, TimberWest has suggested the route be spray-painted. 

"It's unlikely a hiker could spot the markers amongst the slash," says Mr.
Loveless.

Alternatively, TimberWest has offered to swap the land through which the
trail passes for a piece of land of equivalent value in Strathcona Park.
Parks Canada has told the federation that they cannot agree to a land swap
because they will not give up parkland, and they cannot purchase the trail
area from TimberWest.

TimberWest spokesman Steve Lorimer has been in meetings with both the
Federation of Mountain Clubs and the Comox District Mountaineering Club. He
says that there are no definite plans at this point as to what roads will be
installed for logging. However, "at some point the road will be expanded for
future logging operations. Conceivably, the road will bring the glacier
closer to hikers."

Mr. Loveless doesn't like that idea.

"We don't like to see roads where there is wilderness, but once the roads
are there, people will use them. Right now, it is a nice stand of timber to
hike through and we don't want to lose that."

Ms. Masters is concerned that as roads encroach on the glacier, the
challenge and thrill of hiking it will be diminished. "I thought I was too
old to hike the glacier again, but as the roads edge closer that might not
be the case. It will be too easy. I don't want to see that day."