Industry News
The highly anticipated year-round Valemount Ski Resort in British Columbia has hit some recent speed bumps. Located near Mount Robson Provincial Park, the resort would sit roughly 5 hours drive west of Edmonton, Alberta. The provincial government approved a master plan in early 2017, but there has been little progress made since. Without question, this would be the largest ski resort in North America once fully completed. Bolstering what could be a 6,857 feet vertical drop (for comparison…Jackson Hole, WY has a 4,139 vertical drop!) over 12,000 acres of skiing, and roughly 550 annual inches of snow, Valemount could become a crown jewel of ski destinations.
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Valemount will not be your traditional ski resort. Do not expect to be able to ski all 12,000 acres from the comfort of a ski lift. A vast amount of the terrain will require backcountry skis, hiking, or mountaineering to get to. This will leave large areas of the resort undisturbed from construction or lifts. The terrain will rival resorts like Chamonix and almost any heli-skiing operation out there. If you enjoy laying down carve turns on groomers, do not be afraid as there are extensive plans for man-made runs as well. While this resort seems too good to be true, it has not had the easiest start.
To start, the project’s price tag was initially put at $100 million but could reach as high as $500 million once the base village is fully completed. Due to this, capital investment is still going on. Additionally, the resort has seen criticism over its obscure location and lack of a major airport to supply customers to the region. While capital has not been fully put together, there are already multiple backers for the project including the Simpcw Nation.
At this point, the project looks ready to begin construction once it has reached its required investment targets. Project leads say that if the money comes in soon, lifts could be operational by 2022. In the meantime, we will have to wait to see if the Valemount Glacier Destination Resort gets enough funding.
Check out Valemount Glacier Destination’s website for more details.
pipe dream
Ummmmm how are they planning on filling this place with people? And it’s 12,000 acres but a lot of that will be backcountry style? What’s the point of that, there are closer places in BC to ski backcountry. I hope this never gets off the ground and am siding with the Ktunaxa Nation and pushback efforts.
Sounds like a great plan, but please change the name…
It’s named after the town its located in