River of
No Return
ashlu
I
N 1993, Stuart Smith launched into the up- best candidates for what they call “run of the The pavement soon turns to gravel as we hook
per sections of the Ashlu and returned with river” hydroelectricity generation. a left off the Squamish Valley Road to head up
reports of polished granite bedrock and crys- It’s now the fall of 2008 as we caravan toward the Ashlu drainage. The once overgrown logging
talline blue water. Four years later the next wave the Ashlu River. Driving almost due north out of road barely passable with a 4x4 is now a wide
of local Squamish paddlers, including LJ Wilson Squamish we turn off the Sea to Sky Highway and well-travelled thoroughfare. Power poles
and Sam Matlby, completed the first descent of and slip through First Nations reserves around line an immense clearing that parallels the road
the Ashlu’s lower reaches, now known as Box or the town of Brakendale and cross the dam-be- for several kilometres, interrupting the otherwise
Commitment Canyon. The river quickly became sieged Cheakamus River. The vine maples’ giant dense forest. I can’t help but think about how
the most sought-after classic in the Sea-to-Sky leaves litter the narrowing road as we pass under much the landscape must have changed here
Corridor. Just 30 minutes outside of Squamish, their thick canopy beneath the lurking shadow of since the first paddlers explored this valley al-
the rapids were clean and the scenery was co- the Tantalus Range. The hot summer has melted most 15 years ago.
lossal. Little did these paddlers know BC Hydro most of the snow off the peaks, leaving the bluish- We reach the security checkpoint at the en-
had already identified the Ashlu as one of the gray glaciers exposed and glistening in the sun. trance to the construction zone and my vehicle
INSIDe tHe SeCurIty CHeCkPoINt.
Rapid
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