Steep Climb Ahead For BC Ski Resorts

To the uninitiated, the future prospects for ski resort developments in British Columbia could not be brighter.

Within its spectacular mountain ranges, the province has three locations that have been given government green lights or degrees of approval for development as international ski resort destinations.

Two of them sit at heights so lofty that the snow on their glaciers and peaks stays throughout the year, making them true four-season ski and sightseeing destinations, reports western editor, Ted Davis in this week’s digital edition of Canadian Travel Press.

But objections and appeals filed by interest groups, plus the numerous conditions required to satisfy government environmental assessments, continue to slow and even halt the progress at two of the projects.

These two – Garibaldi at Squamish and Jumbo Glacier Resort – have been working their way through a system of environmental approvals and public discourse for between 25 and 30 years.

The third one – Valemount Glacier Destination – is at an earlier stage of this potentially rocky road.

The result is that BC may find itself at a competitive disadvantage against world ski destinations like Colorado, Utah, France and Switzerland.

For instance Colorado and Utah are both smaller than BC in terms of population, yet they each attract about double the number of skier visits as compared to the province, says a resort management executive.

As those places have moved ahead in developing their mountain resources, BC has lagged behind, gradually losing the patronage of international skiers and boarders, says Tommaso Oberti, vice president of the Pheidias Group project managers in Vancouver.

The ski resorts of British Columbia draw just 1.6% of all skier visits worldwide, he says.

“You’ve got to have new products in order to increase visitor numbers,” says Oberti, whose company is overseeing the master planning, design/architecture and construction management of Jumbo and Valemount.

The opening of new ski mountain resorts is the only way to compete on a level playing field with the international competition, he says.

He cites the off-the-charts success of the Sea to Sky Gondola near Squamish as an example of how a new sightseeing attraction has tapped into the demand by tourists for more things to do in the province.

All-season viability is a must for any new destination resort proposals.

This has become even more crucial as global warming continues to sap early and late season snow quantities from resorts that reside at lower altitudes. BC’s Whistler/Blackcomb is coming to grips with those weather realities and ensuring that its product offering is sufficiently diverse to maintain demand in the warm months.

Blackcomb was the last truly new, or “green field,” mountain resort launched in BC, and that dates back to 1980.

Others, including Sun Peaks, Revelstoke and Kicking Horse, were re-imagined and rebuilt/expanded on the basic infrastructure already in place from earlier ski operations.

For the full story, check out this week’s digital edition of Canadian Travel Press by clicking here.