NORTH VANCOUVER — Two rock climbers have been fined and banned from entering Grouse Mountain Regional Park for a year after pleading guilty to damaging natural features of the park to create a new climbing route.
In September 2019, Brent Nixon, 45, and Sara Newhook, 31, began work on an unsanctioned trail, cutting down branches and trees, removing mosses and lichens, and drilling anchors into a rocky outcrop in a closed area not far from the top of Grouse Mountain, a court heard at their sentencing last week.
When confronted at the scene by a Metro Vancouver park ranger in October of that year, they admitted they were responsible for some of the work, which included 23 trees being cut down and 12 more being limbed.
The damaged trees were between 50 and 126 years old, according to an arborist who inspected them, the court heard.
“The conduct of the accused in this case, we say, was highly culpable,” said prosecutor Shane Hopkins-Utter. “The actions of Nixon and Newhook degraded a sensitive ecosystem on a long-term if not permanent basis.”
The couple are the first people ever charged with the offence under Metro Vancouver’s Regional Parks Regulation Bylaw, which makes it illegal to damage natural park features.
Nixon’s lawyer Greg Diamond said that is largely owing to the fact rogue trail building has been largely tolerated in parks and on Crown land for decades.
“What this case may highlight is perhaps an increasing tension between outdoor recreationalists and people using urban centres and parks,” he said,
Nixon has since founded Vancouver Climbers’ Association, which specifically advocates against climbers making any changes to the environment without the landowners’ permission, which should be considered a mitigating factor, Diamond said.
Newhook’s lawyer, Nick Elson, also emphasized his client’s desire to simply make the climbing route safe.
Ultimately, provincial court Judge Daniel Weatherly agreed to the joint request by prosecution and defence for a $5,000 fine for Nixon and a $1,500 fine for Newhook. They are also banned from entering the park for a year.
