Forillon National Park is a 100 square mile protected area with the nickname of “End of the World” for its extremely remote location protruding into the Sea sized Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The most popular area of the park is Cap Bon-Ami (Cape Good Friend), one of the few areas of the park where the cliffs are small enough to allow access to the beaches below. The rugged beauty of the area is blessed with stunning landscapes and sight lines.

Since the creation of the National Park in 1970 tourists have wanted access to the expansive pebble beaches but the tall limestone cliffs that surround almost the entire park shoreline made for challenging trails down to the beach. To expand access to these beaches for people not necessarily able to hike a challenging and steep trail the parks department awarded a contract to design, build and install a staircase from the parking area down to the beach itself.

The design criteria had many priorities such as user safety, durability, low maintenance as well as aesthetic and environmental suitability. The extremely remote location and difficult access meant the life-cycle cost would be heavily affected by high upkeep costs. Hot-dip galvanized steel fit the bill beautifully with its strength, proven durability and ruggedness against erection and use damage. The direct exposure to the marine environment combined with de-icing applications made corrosion resistance vital to insuring a long service life. Treated wood created the desired low impact appearance desired in this wild topography and galvanized steel provided the dependable structure to insure the long-life and ultra low maintenance under structure.

While no suppliers were available locally due to the remote location of the park the Quebec City area was the closest urban area and the proximity of the fabricator and the galvanizer contributed to a successful and rapid process from design right through installation on site. High quality fabrication and galvanizing meant that erection was incident free and on time. 

Now more people than ever can reach these beautiful beaches of the majestic Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the combination of wood, iron and zinc in their natural and benign simplicity blend in beautifully with the surrounding terrain and fauna while providing an exceptionally long service life.