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Greater Seymour Arm Area

Community: Seymour Arm
Full-time Population: approximately 58
Services: Fuel, Dining, Store, Liquor Store, Accommodations
Accessibility: Graded road along Seymour Arm Main
Snowfall: Extremely High

Status: OPEN

Seymour Arm exclusive - areas for all levels of riding abilities. Long track mountain machines recommended to reach alpine areas.

Seymour Arm has been a long-time favourite snowmobile destination since the day Ski-Doo cranked out their first sled. Located north of the 51st parallel, Seymour Arm is situated directly in the snow belt. The ground is covered with deep, thick snow all winter long. Our sledding season is perhaps one of the longest, with mountain trips as early as the first week of December and extending into late June. Yes - this is correct - you can sled up top in Seymour Arm all the way into June. This is due to the albedo effect combined with the massive annual snowfall. During winter you can easily ride areas up top on Celista Mountain on 12-18 feet of snow.

In addition to high alpine sledding, Seymour Arm has hundreds and hundreds of Forest service roads that do not get graded. With a network of logging roads going through each valley, up each mountain, and stretching endlessly, sledders can also enjoy intermediate runs in any direction of choice.

With the Urban Beach Resort ideally situated at lake level, access is easy, parking is abundant and - the best feature - you can sled right from your front door. Welcome to Seymour Arm, and welcome to our vast backyard packed with endless snow, deep bases, and fresh powder.

Forest Service Roads - explore new territory

Height: Elevations Vary
Distance: Endless

Status: OPEN

Seymour Arm's Forest Service Roads: Stretching Endlessly

Go wherever you want.

Sledding on untouched forest service roads during the winter can offer a better experience than conventional trail riding. Enjoy the scenery and break in new trail. Go up mountains, through valleys, and up to hidden lakes. Discover your own favourite riding areas.

"Snowmobiles may use a Forest Service road during winter, provided that the road has not been snowplowed and is not fit for travel by vehicles other than snowmobiles. Snowmobilers using unplowed Forest Service roads should be aware that cross-country skiers may also be using the road ".*

*source: www.for.gov.bc.ca/

Click on the following image for the BC Forest Safety Council's brochure on using Forest Service roads:

Upper Seymour River Provincial Park

Size: 10,672 hectares (26,371 acres)
Distance from resort: approx. 40 km
Scenery: Amazing

Status: OPEN

See the Glaciers and Alpine Tundra

"Upper Seymour River Provincial Park takes in the headwaters of the Seymour River, which forms the major drainage system into the Seymour Arm of Shuswap Lake. The park has steep mountain slopes enclosing old-growth interior wet-belt forests and extensive river and wetland environments.

The Upper Seymour Valley has a long elevational range of forest types from lower Interior Cedar-Hemlock forests, through sub-alpine Fir-Engelmann Spruce forests to alpine habitats.

The lower park section is narrow and bound by forest (service) roads and extensive cutblocks. The upper portion is in pristine wilderness (with) high glaciers and alpine tundra".*

The Upper Seymour River Provincial Park has very extensive old growth forest with ancient giant cedar trees (600 - 1,000 years) and are some of the oldest and largest in the southern Interior.

*source: www.env.gov.bc.ca

For further information on the Upper Seymour River Provincial Park, visit the BC Parks website at:

www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/up_seymour/

Celista Mountain

Height: 2209 m (7247 ft)
Prominence: 679 m
Latitude: 51°24'48.00"N
Longitude: 119° 1'58.00"W
Range: Seymour Range (Shuswap) of Monashee Mountains

Status: OPEN

Celista Mountain: The best kept secret in Seymour Arm

"Located north of the north end of Seymour Arm, Shuswap Lake, and west of the headwaters of McNomee Creek. It was originally called Mount Celista but changed on July 27, 1996 to Celista Mountain.

The name most likely comes from TxElaxi'tsa, Chief of the Okanagon, or his son, John Celestin (Salista'). Chief TxElaxi'tsa was the most prominent chief of the interior of British Columbia and was noted as an all-round good man. He had great faith in the Queen and the Queen's laws, but in 1875 and 1876 there was much dissatisfaction among the interior Salishan tribes. White settlements were growing and the Government failed to make treaties and proper agreements with them rather than steal the land, but through Chief TxElaxi'tsa's efforts a major conflict was avoided. He died about 1884 and was succeeded by his son John Celestin (Salista') as chief of the Okanagon".*

*source: www.bivouac.com

Mount Grace

Height: 2006 m (6581 ft)
Prominence: 292 m
Latitude: 51°26'42.00"N
Longitude:118°48'36.00"W
Range: Ratchford Range of Monashee Mountains

Status: CLOSED

"Mount Grace contains a rare geological formation known as the Cottonbelt deposit - a massive sulphide Pb-Zn layer discovered in 1905. Detailed mapping in 1979 of the Mount Grace area also led to the discovery of new occurrences of the type II carbonatite layer, known as the Mount Grace carbonatite.

The Mount Grace carbonatite occurs discontinuously for approximately 13 kilometers on Mount Grace, and it's thickness varies from less than 1 meter to approximately 3 meters. Trace and rare element data of carbonatite samples from the Mount Grace area are (currently being studied). The Mount Grace carbonatite is a valuable source of a number of commodities".*

*source: www.llbc.leg.bc.ca

Pukeashun Mountain (pronounced "po-kah-shuwn")

Height: 2301 m (7549 ft)
Prominence: 1696 m
Latitude: 51°12'0.00"N
Longitude: 119°14'0.00"W
Range: Shuswap Highland Range of Monashee Mountains:

Status: OPEN

Pukeashun/Grizzly/Crowfoot are easily accessible from Seymour Arm through our back door entrance along the powerlines up Blueberry.

"The peak is the highest summit of the Adams Plateau which is the gentle but hilly range between Adams Lake and the Seymour Arm of Shuswap Lake.

The terrain is mostly bare rock. There is no glacier, and no alpine lakes above the treeline.

Pukeashun is an easy hike up to the top, and so it was probably first ascended in pre-european times".*

*source: www.bivouac.com

Mount Fowler (Grizzly)

Height: 2070 m (6791 ft)
Prominence: 920 m
Latitude: 51° 5'24.00"N
Longitude: 119° 9'6.00"W
Range: Shuswap Highland Range of Monashee Mountains

Status: OPEN

Pukeashun/Grizzly/Crowfoot are easily accessible from Seymour Arm through our back door entrance along the powerlines up Blueberry.

Also known as Grizzly. Located on the west side of Seymour Arm and accessible via a short cut from Urban Beach Resort through the powerlines.

Crowfoot Mountain

Height: 1979 m (6493 ft)
Prominence: 109 m
Latitude: 51° 2'42.00"N
Longitude: 119°14'24.00"W
Range: Shuswap Highland Range of Monashee Mountains

Status: OPEN

Pukeashun/Grizzly/Crowfoot are easily accessible from Seymour Arm through our back door entrance along the powerlines up Blueberry.

"The Crowfoot Mountain snowmobile trail area is located along the north shore of Shuswap Lake near Celista. The snowmobile trails cover several mountains, including Crowfoot, Pukeashun, Lichen and Grizzly (Fowler). The area's close proximity to Shuswap Lake provides spectacular views.

The trails have a regular grooming program and are managed by the Crowfoot Mountain Snowmobile Club in cooperation with BC Ministry of Forests".*

*source: www.shuswap.bc.ca

View closure maps/open areas as you fly around on
Google Earth

Instructions:

1. Make sure you have the Google Earth Software installed on your computer. The software is free. The current version is Google Earth 6 and can be downloaded at:

http://www.google.com/earth/index.html#utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=ha&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-bk-eargen&utm_term=google%20earth%204

2. Goto the Province of British Columbia website containing the GPS files that you need to download in order to view on Google Earth. For the Seymour Arm area, you will need to download the files for the following units:

CR005 (Anstey Range)
CR011 (Mt Grace)
CR012 (Seymour Range)
CR014 (Monashee/Selkirk Mountains West)

download at:

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/wildlife/snowmobile-closures/gpxdownload.html

3. Follow the instructions on the Government website and you're only moments away from viewing the areas on Google Earth.

4. For Mac users:

After you download the GPS files from step #2 above, open Google Earth and do the following (on Google Earth 6):

i) goto "Tools" on top menu bar and select "GPS"
ii) a screen will pop-up. click "Import from file" on the device pane, select "Waypoints", "Tracks" and "Routes" on the Import pane, and select "KML Tracks" and "KML Linestrings" in the Output pane
iii) click "Import" and choose the file that you downloaded from the Government site
iv) make sure you import all of the GPS files that you downloaded
v) now you should be able to see the boundaries on Google Earth!

Please contact us if you need assistance viewing the areas in Google Earth. We are always here to assist.

After you have Google Earth setup to show the sled boundaries, contact Craig at the resort for information on potential alpine areas yet to be discovered. We'll be happy to share some coordinates. Explore new territory!