Job out at Britannia Mines

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(captions below each set of pics)


Started work out at Britannia Mines last Saturday. We're replacing the tin siding and roof on the old 1921 building. For those who haven't seen it, it's built like a set of stairs up the mountain. A small town surrounds it, and it's about 10 minutes out of Squamish.
Looking up at it in this picture, you should be able to see the parts we have and haven't done. The grey-silversh siding is the new tin... the old beige-rust colour stuff higher up is yet to be covered up.
The site attracts at least a hundred tourists per day, but apparently they haven't actually been allowed on tours through the entire mine since the eighties.
One of the journemen I work with named "Frenchie" took me on a tour of it today. We've got all the safety gear required for a tour included in our work equipment, so it wasn't a problem. Harnesses, ropes, hard hats, boots, etc.

Here's a series of sequential view shots from the roof we were on today.


Here's a shot of the catwalk we take into the top of the mine, and the somewhat unusable portion of the catwalk on the other side of the structure.

Shot of the interior of the upper floor. Bar across the centre is a 30 tonne crane


Frenchie on a ladder


Nearly three hundred stairs to the top. Old rock car tracks on the left side


Down the same chute


Frenchie tied in.


From outside on the roof, looking in.


Yours truly... tied in...

Frenchie at the old rock-car controls. "One lever for up... two for down."


Mines from the outside. Bottom three layers finished... upper three layers yet to go.

Night-O-Drinky

In the immortal words of Alan Jackson...

"We dropped em' off early, but we didn't go home."

Mike and I takin' Mel and James home from Stephen and Michelle's housewarmer... prolly woulda been sound prudence to have followed their lead... but the 40-pounder of Havana Club back at the party seemed to have other ideas.

camping in Lac la Juenne

Spent Labour Day weekend between Merrit and Kamloops at a provincial campsite called Lac la Juenne.

Pine beetle infestation has decimated so many of their trees, so we ended up abondoning our first site selection for darker one on the second day on account of the lack of shade.

As always, Drusilla came with us, and we were joined by Mike and Rosa on the final evening.

Drusilla was particularly shy on the first couple nights, but soon joined in the effort to scare up some campsite grub...


Not to be outdone, Mike attempts to save us from the dinner monotony of Dru's squirrel's and chipmunks



And after a hard day's hunt, we decided to take a dunk.