Ashlu Creek Run of the River Hydro Project

Our original intent was to ski up Cloudburst, but I forgot my skins so we reverted to plan B which was to explore the recently completed Ashlu Creek run of the river hydro project. In my mind, "run of the river" sounds like they just take a tiny bit of water out of the creek, send it through their power plant and then return the water to the creek. In reality, the project is much larger scale, and much closer to a traditional big dam hydro project.

Thank you Lynda and Josh. Those certainly are skins and yes, I forgot mine.

From Ashlu Run of the River

Our first stop was the power plant and the tail race.

From Ashlu Run of the River

Here is a pic of how much water is still in the creek.

From Ashlu Run of the River

And here is how much water was coming through the power plant. Probably close to 50:50 at this time of year, but likely the creek has more water flowing through it than the power plant.

From Ashlu Run of the River

I think that this is what's known as the tail race. It's where the pipe comes out of the ground and into the power plant.

From Ashlu Run of the River

This is what the inside of the plant looks like. The building was completely unlocked and all the gates were open. We tried to find people for a tour, but nobody was around.

From Ashlu Run of the River

We drove about 10km up the river valley to the head race. This was my first surprise. We drove really far! A tunnel runs underground for this whole length. My second surprise was that the head race isn't just a small diversion of water. It's a dam and a lake. The creek is completely blocked at this point and the landscape around the head race is very much different than it was before the dam was in place.

Miscellaneous shot of the head race.

From Ashlu Run of the River

This is a weir that can be adjusted up and down as needs require. The big black things are inflatable balloons that are used to control the height of the weir. At this low flow, there was no water flowing over the weir.

From Ashlu Run of the River

A fish ladder.

From Ashlu Run of the River

A close up of the fish ladder.

From Ashlu Run of the River

This was most of what flowed past the head race.

From Ashlu Run of the River

This is the lake created behind the dam. It probably extends for about a kilometer up the valley. A significant change to the river.

From Ashlu Run of the River

Some cool hoar frost that formed on the head race.

From Ashlu Run of the River

From Ashlu Run of the River