Jumbo Glacier, BC approved for a ski hill

rudager

Active member
Source: CBC

The B.C. government has approved development of the Jumbo Glacier Alpine Resort, a controversial year-round ski resort 55 kilometres west of Invermere, B.C.

The development has been on the books for two decades, having gone through all regulatory approvals, but no government would sign off on it until now.

The Liberals made the $1 billion annoucement in Victoria Tuesday and said the resort will be comparable in size to Silver Star near Vernon, B.C., or roughly one-tenth the size of Whistler.

Even before the official announcement was made, the NDP was highly critical of the decision. Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald said the provincial approval changes nothing.

"People in the Columbia Valley have been absolutely clear. They feel strongly that building a resort in this area does not make sense," said Macdonald in a statement released Tuesday morning.

"It doesn't make sense environmentally or economically, and putting the B.C. Liberal stamp of approval on it doesn't change a thing."

With files from the CBC's Bob Keating

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I think there are going to be some upset environmentalists
 
So years of protest and the majority of BC residents being opposed to it has amounted to nothing. Can someone remind me what "government" means again?

Fuck this.
 
Say goodbye to these beautiful animals!!

grizzly-bear_566_600x450.jpg


Does BC really need another ski hill? Fuck no. Ski hills its been years since ski hills have been at capacity in BC, yet for whatever reason we still need this resort? Nuh-uh.
 
what the fuck. that resort will fail hard regardless. those developers must be partially retarded.
 
Yea, I'm not stoked. I'm confused with that email about "liberal" stuff. I think "damn right there's a Liberal side". There has been this debate forever. A ski hill on a glacier isn't a good idea anymore. We've seen what's happening to our glaciers, this isn't the best thing for a glacier
 
Plus (might be different up in the glacier environment), but that area of BC is warm and dry. Golden can get the snow, more south (Rossland, Nelson, etc) can get more snow, but Invermere doesn't get a winter like the rest of bc
 
By the time "Jumbo" is actually built, it will be a mole hill. It has been drastically decreased in size from when it was initially proposed 20 years ago. I think this is just a wast of money and resources.

 
that would be sick.

it would be a couple years away the road that leads up to jumbo right now is super sketchy.

its been talked about for soo long though so i hope its a go ahead now,
 
invermere never has any snow. but up at pano this which is on the same road as jumbo they are at a seasonal snow fall of 588 this year and a base of almost 200cm at the top and if im correct jumbos base would be about halfway up of what panoramas base is.
 
I just made a thread about this in regionals. I never actually thought it would get approval. There seam to be a lot of people in the East Kootenays who are verbally expressing that they are willing to "make sure it does not happen".

Apparently, the men with the money are claiming that they'll start development as early as 2014, with opening not too far after that.

I still don't really believe it's actually going to happen, and I hope it doesn't.

http://www.jumboglacierresort.com/documents/masterplan.html

time to get learned, the Liberals just opened up a big can of worms.
 
there's a lot of misinformation in this thread.

No - it is not going to be heli access, that's just stupid. There's a network of logging roads that already exist, they just need to widen a bit and pave (or not, whatever).

Invermere gets no snow. Panorama sits in what is known as the "Pano donut" and it also gets no snow (it lies in the rain shadow of the main spine of the Purcells). Jumbo area gets a lot of snow. It sits on the spine of the Purcells, and there are 4 glaciers within the boundaries of the resort. It is high elevation, gets snow and has glaciers for summer skiing. The glaciers have been used as a summer training site for years by the Canadian Race Team.

There are very, very few people who want this ski hill to go through. I was just listening to CBC Radio, and I guess the mayor of Radium is pro Jumbo. I haven't really heard any other substantial person in the region express anything but negativity towards this project.

Show me one ski hill that is at or above expected earnings in this province and I might consider thinking about the idea of Jumbo being a good one. It's a joke and I see the Liberals being thrown out of government before anything actually gets built up there.

 
How exactly does paying for a lift installed last year equate to lower than expected earnings this year?

 
I mean unless the new chair was always down for maintenance and had a lot of unforeseeable expenses, I don't see how it affects expected earnings...

The real factor is skier visits, which I understand has been steadily climbing over the past few seasons.
 
invermere sucks and doesnt deserve another resort! not enough snow and not a big enough audience for a all year resort. There isnt an international airport nearby and calgary doesnt have enough skiers/boarders to sustain the hill. Stupid idea
 
If the locals aren't supporting the development then who the hell is going to ski there. A resort can't only rely on tourists and national athlete support. This is just stupid.
 
Locals would be the town of Inveremere, and I guess some condo holders from Calgary, but they already ski Pano (why would one ski there anyways?), no one from Golden would go there in the Winter, and more down in Southern BC is littered with great hills. There is no market for this hill.
 
Other than the obvious environmental factors, why are people so angry about this? I'm stoked for when I'll be able to drive 6 hours and ski in te summer.
 
There is no market for it. Or not a big enough one at least to turn a glacier into a new ski resort development
 
When newschoolers has the real estate ponzi scheme figured out, and realizes the project is doomed, you know it's fucked up. Good work gentlemen.
 
Kicking horse and Revy are perfect examples. The first mountains, rising up form the lowest valley bottom. Great hills in their own right, but Jumbo is the biggest mountains on the center spine of the range.

 
Okay, here I am, im going to say it... WHY DOES ANYONE GIVE A FUCK THAT THERE IS NO MARKET FOR THIS?! If some rich people think its a good idea to spend a large chunk of their money on a ski hill up there, then cool. WE WILL GET A SWEET PLACE TO SKI YEAR ROUND, THATS GOING TO BE DOPE! I PERSONALLY AM EXCITED. The local hill near me loses money every year and is always struggling to stay open, but guess what, I still have fun skiing there. It doesn't matter that the market isn't there, in fact, it makes the slopes less crowded and generally better.

let the haters hate
 
Thats not what a foothill is though. Revy starts valley bottom, KH doesn't. And I don't care if I'm able to ski ear, the development of the whole place is still a waste of money and natural resources. There's a reason why there has been such debate.
 
Biggest problem is its in the middle of fucking nowhere and is like a 10 hour drive from any major airport which will definatly turn tourists away.
 
Well, no. The Okanagan ski hills (Apex, Big White, Silver Star) would be "perfect examples" of ski hills located in the foothills (or highlands if you want to get real specific.

Red Mountain is pretty much foothills, kinda right on the cusp... Kicking Horse and Revy? I think not. A mountain doesn't have to be on the main spine of the whole range to be considered a mountain. The reason most of the ski hills in BC are on the flanks of the ranges is because no one actually lives in the mountains in this province (if you want to get picky I guess Elkford, Sparwood, Fernie, Nelson, and Rossland are IN the mountains, but whatever), we all live in the valleys. Why would we build a ski resort in the middle of a mountain range when there's nobody there? The amount of energy and resources to create such a thing is a waste.
 
Visits are up? Factor in an amazing season, plus more terrain, it's something worth checking out this season
 
Revy and KH are each respectable mountains and both rival the best skiing in N.America. Not trying to take anything away from those hills.

a foot hill is a relatively low hill(mountain) at the foot(beginning) of a mountain range. Prominence and/or elevation is irrelevant to the description.

Red and wh20 don't fit this definition. Big White is a highland ridge and the highest point in the S.Monashees. Not a foot hill. Even though they are smaller than Revy/KH.

It's just semantics anyways,and if you don't like the term foot hill, you don't have to use it.

Of course ski hills are built close to town to make access easy. So people can live at home and still commute to the ski hill.

Why would we build a ski resort in the middle of the mountain range? Easy. That's where the best skiing is.

I really have no idea of what kind of resources or energy it would take to build Jumbo. I also don't have a clue if there is enough of a population to support it, or if Tourism will bring in enough money to develop a successful business. I really don't care about those things. What I do care about is High Alpine and powder skiing.
 
Sorry, I think your ideas of what "foothills" are is a bit skewed. Big White is not the highest point in the south Monashees for starters. Old Glory in the Rossland Range is both higher, and further south. Red is at the very, very far south end of the Monashee Mountains and can very much be considered foothills.

The Dogtooth Range is no way in hell foothills, nor is the west flanks of the Selkirks (where Revy lies). To me, the foothills of the Selkirks are down in Washington and Idaho and the Purcells are around Yahk and Moyie because that's where the ranges start to build up into mountains. Revy is a mountain (sure, it's not 3000M, but it's still very much a mountain) within the Selkirks and just beacuase it sits next to the river valley, doesn't change anything.

I can see you to continue to argue against what I am saying so I'm not really going to get into in too much more detail.

 
How can you say there is no market for it? It's a weekend trip from Calgary. You don't think anyone in Calgary would be interested in skiing year round?
 
Nope. Maybe a couple thousand throughout the summer, but that's not enough to keep a hill running. And of theyre pass holders, the hill won't really be able to make much more money after that. The average person/family doesn't want to ski in the summer.
 
Timberline vertical in the summer=1,540 ft. (without magic mile) 2,540 (with magic mile)This new place vertical in the summer=2,300 ft.

 
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