Shovelnose Creek FSR
Sea To Sky Natural Resource District
Distance
8.77 km
Last Road Report
Oct 22, 2025
Closures
No Posted Closures
Location
Shovelnose Creek FSR
Permit Holder
Northwest Squamish Forestry Ltd.
Waypoints
Conditions
Start to 8.5 km
Somewhat Degraded
44d ago
8.5 to 8.8 km
Somewhat Degraded
495d ago
Description
No description.
Road Bulletins
Drove all the way up to the top in a Subaru Forrester with a 1 inch lift. The usual rock garden areas are still present and have degraded compared to last years fall conditions prior to the ski season. Had to pick my line a few times, but slow and steady got us through. Definitely used the skid plates on the way down with some of the dips and rocks.
Made it to 7.5 km in my Honda Pilot Trailsport with 8.3" clearance. Couldn't get past this slide debris in AWD. Not enough traction. Need 4x4 to pass. Recommend at least 9 or 10" clearance on this road as I definitely used my skid plates.
Was able to drive to 850m, consistent snow started from there. Relevant for skiers, there was one larger bare patch around 930m.
Drove all the way to the top (1300m) in a stock 4runner didn't use 4-low until the last few switch backs. Great views of Pyroclastic Peak.
Changing this road to yellow or "Somewhat Degraded" as green "good condition" is not appropriate. I would not attempt this road without a high clearance 4WD.
Changing this road to yellow or "Somewhat Degraded" as green "good condition" is not appropriate. I would not attempt this road without a high clearance 4WD.
Snow free to switchback just before 8 km at 1050m elevation. Loose rocks and minor water bars, best with 4X4 with good tires
Clear all the way up to the look out at 750-800m. Just a few patches of snow just before that, but the snow had previously been driven over before we got there. its a bit slick since its soft from being in the sun, but easily passable.
Thanks to all those that cleared the trail up to the look out. You can easily tell the areas with trees that were fallen across the trail on the way up.
Thanks to all those that cleared the trail up to the look out. You can easily tell the areas with trees that were fallen across the trail on the way up.
Snow starts at around 720m although there's two large patches lower down that I was able to push through. The road is melting out fast though!
Snow level starts at around 800m. I didn't drive up this way but could see from our route.
[From JG Kelly] - Shovelnose 2023 send off! December 31st Snow starts at approximately 950m. Put on chains right away based on some beta on how slick it is. Found the snow to be isothermal on top over ice and was a real white knuckler up to the switchback at 1030m. Skinning up was easy travel, new snowline around 1400m.
[From Fernando Lessa] - Could drive my high Clarence car up to 700m ( not the best rd, but doable). Snow level is at around 1000m. Was raining hard ( forecast was calling for rain up to 1500m!).
Consistent snow started around 900m (with a few small bare patches here and there) and we were able to drive up to about 1050m
Snow started around 400m, and we were able to drive up to ~650m with chains on.
[From Andrew Moldovan] - snowline starts at around 750m and gets considerably deeper the higher you go. Some trucks drive to around 800m and vehicles may be able to reach 1000m with proper chains and 4x4.
During winter this is a sled-access area, but before/after it is snow-covered the road is driveable. We used for early season ski touring in 2022. 1-2km from the bottom there was a big group stuck at a bunch of downed trees. Helped cut the trees with chainsaw, the group hand-sawed and a guy with a full-size truck pulled the cut trees off the road with a strap. Everyone worked together to eventually get the road clear. Chains on here as we were on continuous snow by now, we were able to drive through snow all the way to 1,100m (3x Tacomas, 4Runner, GX450/Landcruiser and Nissan Frontier). Road likely driveable higher in summer without snow.
[From 4WDABC] - a number of users report making it to the end or near the end over the last 2 years. The last kilometer or so is fairly chewed up loose gravel with the odd larger boulder










