Industry News
Highway 5 rises up out of Hope British Columbia and into the snow belt of the Coquihalla, where the Spuzzum First Nation wants to build a year-round recreation resort. South Anderson resort is slated to include 3,000 mixed-use housing units, with cross country and downhill skiing in the winter, golfing, hiking, and downhill mountain biking in the summer. With 11 chairlifts planned, and the tenure covering 7,400 hectares, this will be a larger resort by most Canadian resort standards. It will sit between Highway 1 and Highway 5. Access to South Anderson is being planned mostly from Highway 1 through Anderson Forest Service Road 20 miles to the resort area. There will possibly be an alternate access from Highway 5. The 2010 feasibility study commissioned by the Spuzzum First Nation predicts 400,000 skier visits in a 120-day season. This could be a competitor to the likes of Big White, Silver Star, and Apex in the Okanagan Valley.
There are no sizable ski resorts east of Whistler Blackcomb, in British Columbia, until you hit the aforementioned ones in the Okanagan Valley. Vancouver has the local North Shore Mountains of Grouse, Seymour, and Cypress Mountains literally on the city bus routes. Whistler Blackcomb is the only real option for a larger resort if you are one of the 2.7 million people living in the Greater Vancouver area. With that population within a reasonable driving distance for a weekend warrior, it would seem to be in a good location
South Anderson will have a base elevation of 3,300 feet and the highest lift will top out at 5,676 feet. Not as high in elevation as Big White at 4,940 feet base elevation, or Silver Star at 3,790 feet base elevation, but high enough to benefit from the storms that roll up the Fraser Valley from the Pacific, and smash the Coquihalla summits. The “Highway from Hell” series was filmed about this pass, and the highways avalanche program is one of the busiest in Canada.
On the face of it, this seems like a good place for a ski resort. It’s a pretty snow-sure area, close enough to a major city, and smaller high-density population areas. Major highways already bring millions of travelers right past the access road. The Spuzzum First Nation will be counting on both of these to fill the 3,200 guest beds planned for this resort. It is not a foregone conclusion though, as in British Columbia, new ski resorts face much opposition, especially those larger proposals such as Jumbo Resort. This was a huge year-round ski resort, originally planned by Oberto Oberti for the Jumbo Glacier at the Northern end of Duncan Lake in the Kootenays. That project was quashed when public awareness groups showed the Provincial government that the environmental impact would be too large. There is already a ski touring community that frequents that area. So there is a chance that, as with Zincton, a new proposed lift access ski touring area between Kaslo and New Denver in British Columbia, there may be some opposition from those not wishing their backcountry zone to become a ski resort.
Ski resorts, when well managed, can benefit the local community in many ways. New employment opportunities for local people at the ski hill and more revenue coming in through community-owned restaurants and hotels for example. A struggling community can be reinvigorated. The Spuzzum First Nation are hoping that South Anderson will be a positive move for their people in the Coquihalla. There is a long process still to go through to get there, however, this is a step in the right direction for South Anderson and its proponents.
