Chilliwack – At the Tuesday, August 2, 2022 council meeting, Chilliwack City Council awarded the Request for Quotation for “Little Mountain South Face Trail Stairs” in order to create a pedestrian route that will connect the valley floor to higher elevation trails on Little Mountain. The base of the stairs, along with a new parking area, will be located on City property at 46963 Yale Road.
The project scope comes with a high degree of construction difficulty as the route is on an extremely steep hillside terrain and involves heavy lifting and machinery access challenges. The existing ground slope of the corridor varies from 30% to slightly over 50%.
The City has allocated a budget of $200,000 to create the Little Mountain Stairs, which will link the valley floor and the proposed greenbelt for foot traffic. The budget also includes the creation of a new parking lot area at the base of the stairs on Yale Road.
The stairs will feature an eight-foot-wide stair corridor that extends approximately 128 metres, rising approximately 60 metres from the parking facility on Yale Road to a potential trail connection point. Approximately 340 recycled plastic posts will be placed to act as stair treads as part of the project.
January 19, 2023 UPDATE – While some people have climbed the stairs, Drew Pilling, Project Manager with the City of Chilliwack Parks Department says it’s too early to make the climb: The stairs are not open yet…as we are still completing danger tree assessments, signage, and a couple of other items. For the safety of the public, I would like to keep patrons away until the works are complete. A press release will go out through the city once the trail is open and safe for public use. Thank You.
Daris LaPointe shared pictures of her climb with FVN (and thank you for that):
