Ozalenka Club and Cabin

This happened in 1989:

        The week following our initial hike up into the Ozalenka, thirteen people, many of whom had been on the hike, met at John and Linda Bird’s house to form the Ozalenka Alpine Club.  We were all eager to create a hiking club and to try and preserve the Ozalenka drainage from being destroyed by motorized vehicles, something that was becoming more and more of a local threat.  About a week later, we approached the Forest Service and were able to secured a promise that through their Recreation mandate, they would be willing to kick in some funds for the club’s effort to build a cabin for hikers in the Ozalenka alpine.

    Over the following year, volunteers from the club an others volunteered their time and labor to build a cabin in the Ozalenka.  We did get funding from the Forest Service, mostly to pay for a helicopter to ferry in the building supplies to the cabin site.  Once completed, the cabin contained beds, a kitchen complete with propane burners, pots and pans, and eating utensils.  There was a wood stove and firewood for heat for skiers that wanted to use the area during the winter.  Later a solar panel was added that provided some electrical power to the cabin.

    The creation of a cabin enabled a lot of hikers to spend an extended time in the alpine, without having to lug so much gear on their backs, hiking up the trail.  The cabin was rented out and became very popular, attracting a lot of hikers from outside the Robson Valley, who had heard about it, as word spread.  

    That original cabin has now been replaced with a new and better cabin, but I have not been up there to check that one out.  All of these photos are from that first cabin. 

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca