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The Saga of the Hollyburn Chairlift - Part 2 Imagine waking one morning to learn that major sections of the Cypress Bowl Highway had been swept away by a massive landslide and would not be replaced for several years. A similar dilemma faced Hollyburn ski lodge operators and cabin owners on the morning of June 6th, 1965. During the previous night, a fire had destroyed beautiful Hi-View Lodge and severely damaged the upper station of the Hollyburn Chairlift, thereby cutting off easy access to cabins and ski trails. No doubt many Hollyburners worried about the impact this disaster would have on their cherished way of life. Residents in nearby cabins were awakened by the fire about 2:30 a.m. which had already cut a chairlift cable and BC Telephone lines to West Vancouver. Using the municipal forest service’s own line on the mountain, they telephoned Ted Russell at the ranger station. Ted alerted Fred Russell and Kjell Karlson. The three of them rode in Fred’s jeep to a point near the ‘spar tree lookout’. While it burned, Hi-View Lodge lit up the night sky over Hollyburn Ridge.. (Kjell Karlson photo, Alex Swanson Collection) There was little anyone could do. Most of the firefighting equipment on the mountain had been stored in the lodge. While Fred continued down the mountain to report the fire to West Vancouver Police, a bucket brigade worked hard to save Oscar Pearson’s cabin, which stood next to the chairlift station. Fortunately the cabin survived and the fire did not spread into the neighbouring forest. Page 6 Cont’d. next column Hollyburn Chairlift - cont*d. In the morning, those on the Ridge were confronted by the smouldering ruins of the Hollyburn chairlift and Hi-View lodge. (Alex Swanson Collection) Over the years, there has been much speculation about how the fire got started. At the time of the fire, Hollyburn Aerial Trams Ltd. was facing financial ruin. There had been little snow during the 1962/1963 and 1963/1964 ski seasons. Ironically, during the winter of 1964/1965 there was too much snow low down on the mountain. It had been expensive clearing the road to the bottom of the chairlift. A week before the fire, the lodge had been closed and the electrical power to the lift and lodge cut off. The previous Thursday, Hi Colville had announced the company was going into voluntary bankruptcy. For some, these circumstances suggest that the fire may have been deliberately set. However, investigators were never able to determine the fire’s cause. Insurance paid only a small part of the $300,000 Hollyburn Aerial Trams had invested in Hi-View Lodge and the chairlift. The financial backers were left with little money and broken dreams. It was highly unlikely that H.A.T. would repair or rebuild what had been damaged or lost. For the next ten years, Hollyburners would have to use a network of rough roads and trails to get to and from the mountain. In 1938, the Heaps Timber Company of Los Angeles had bulldozed a steep, hairpin-turn logging road as far as the old Nasmyth mill site (just south of parking lot 5). This was the road Fred Burfield had used to notify West Vancouver police about the fire at Hi- View. During the summer, it was relatively easy to make the trip up the Hollyburn road in a sturdy jeep equipped with four-wheel Cont’d. page seven.