All that remains is one concrete pad.

In an operation that took weeks less than anticipated to complete, the final reminders of the microwave repeater tower have now disappeared from Pyramid Mountain and area.

Originally installed on top on the landmark peak in 1953, the repeater tower was rendered obsolete through technological advancements like the advent of satellite dishes. The substantial installation, complete with a tramway that ran down the back side of the mountain, was put on the market by Allstream several years ago.

When the company found no takers for an outdated repeater tower in a national park, (imagine that), they were obliged by the conditions of the lease to restore the site to its prior state.

The removal and cleanup of the tower itself took place last year, said Parks Canada’s Jurgen Deagle.

“We didn’t make them put the mountaintop back on, because they blew it off when they installed the tower, but we didn’t want them to have cement and steel all over the place,” he said. “They flew most of the rubble off by slinging it in great big laundry bags attached to a helicopter.”

With most of the tower gone, and the tramway infrastructure also removed, this year’s work focused on the access road built by the company that installed the tower.

“The fire road to the Palisades lookout was a Parks road, but beyond the turn-off was created just to access the tram,” Deagle said.

Using a bulldozer, an excavator, as well as a fleet of dump trucks, the road was decommisioned in a matter of days. Parks had advised trail users that the trail would be temporarily closed for the entire month of August, but were able to re-open the area over the weekend, well ahead of schedule.

“Last year we put the closure down just for July but we ended up working through October, so we wanted to do the opposite this year,” Deagle said.

Parks did consider leaving the road in place, he added.

“Our concerns with leaving the road intact were to do with maintaining it. The culverts will eventually fail and Parks would have been responsible for replacing them.”

Instead, the cost of decommisioning the track was added to Allstream’s overall price tag for the tower decomissioning, a bill that Deagle estimates is in excess of $1 million.

There has been mixed feedback from trail users about replacing the broad road with a narrow trail, Deagle said.

“Some of the bikers are happy because it will be more challenging when it’s narrow, but others felt it was nice to have some wiggle room when you’re flying downhill.”