17 replies to this topic

[LuvPow]

http://powdercanada....ort-proceeding/

http://www.valemount.org/ski/


Valemount ski resort proceeding

By admin, on November 19th, 2014

The proposed Valemount ski resort took a major step forward with the closing of purchase on over 30,000 acres of resort land, according to people close to the project. Hunter Milborne, nationally recognized as the “Dean of Condos” by Canadian Business Magazine, and Robert Powadiuk, a Toronto-based commercial real estate developer and longtime skier credited with the audacious notion of turning Mount Mackenzie into a megaresort some 20 years earlier, are the two rumoured to have closed on the property.

When built, Valemount’s resort will feature the only ski in/ski out airport in North America. The ski and sightseeing resort would feature the world’s largest vertical drop, year-round skiing, high-alpine glaciers and sightseeing that includes Mt. Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.
Facilities for year-round skiing on glaciers and high-alpine glacier sightseeing do not currently exist in North America, although they are common in the European Alps, the proposal says.
The study area outlined in the company’s 2012 Formal Proposal covers roughly 41,000 acres. The controlled recreation area would be about half that size, or 20,000 acres. The ski run terrain would be 2,500 acres (Whistler-Blackcomb is approx. 8,000 acres).
According to an earlier proposal, the initial 2,000-bed resort base would be situated on a bench just below the mountains via the Westridge Family Loop road, west of Valemount.
Among the resort’s potential features are a public swimming pool and spa; snowshoeing and cross-country ski trails; mountaineering, backcountry touring, and climbing; tree-top adventures and ziplines; snow tubing; mountain bike trails; and mountain-top dining. The cost of the full project was estimated to be $800 Million.
Bruce Wilkinson, president of the Valemount Ski Society, says they are working to ensure the needs and values of residents are considered in the master plan process. The society, which has around 500 members, was set up to promote a high-quality alpine destination. Project details can be found on the society’s website, www.valemount.org/ski.
A copy of the 192-page Formal Proposal from September 2012 lays out more detailed plans for the year-round ski and sightseeing resort that would be the first of its kind in North America.
To download the document, CLICK HERE.- See more at: http://powdercanada....h.ei5E55hl.dpuf

[LuvPow]

http://www.therockym...ort-investment/

Investors are still unconfirmed, but a story online has a lot of people talking about the potential ski and sight-seeing resort near Valemount.
Powder Canada is a website that promotes itself as a resource for powder skiing in Canada. An editorial published late November on the website said Valemount’s proposed ski resort took a major step forward with a recent “closing of purchase on over 30,000 acres of resort land, according to people close to the project.” On Thursday, the phrase in the story was changed to “closing of investment towards 30,000 acres of resort land.”
Tommaso Oberti of Pheidias Project Management, one of the proponents of the Valemount Glacier Destinations project, said the information in the article is “an invention without foundations.”
Oberti says VGD is not involved in any acquisitions of Crown land, and cannot be, because Crown land cannot be sold before all approvals are granted for the project. The Master Plan has not yet been submitted to the province, and there are a number of other steps required before the province would consider selling Crown land.
In addition, provincial policy and the typical Master Development Agreement for a ski resort permits only a very small portion of Crown land be sold. The portion of land sold would be for overnight tourist accommodation in proportion with the capacity of the lifts that are installed, says Oberti.
The entire study area in the Formal Proposal submitted in 2012 is just over 40,000 acres, with the controlled recreation area covering about 20,500 acres. The total development area in the proposal is 480 acres (194 hectares) with the remaining 20,000 or so acres (8115 hectares) used under license from the provincial government. The proposal also includes just over 7,000 acres of licensed area for First Nations and just over 100 acres for First Nations development.
Greig Bethel, spokesperson for the Ministry of Forest, Lands and natural Resource Operations confirmed that there has been no Crown land sales related to Valemount Glacier Destinations’ proposed resort. The application is still under review by the ministry’s Mountain Resorts Branch.
The Goat contacted Dan Savage from Powder Canada Thursday morning to ask if he could confirm the information from his source, since a purchase of Crown land could not be possible at this point. Savage wouldn’t share his source, but said it was someone in Toronto. Savage said he felt it was important to get the story out, since he hadn’t even heard of the potential development near Valemount yet.
The piece on Powder Canada also says Hunter Milborne and Robert Powadiuk are the two rumoured to be involved in the investment. Milborne’s bio on his company’s website says he is nationally recognized as the “Dean of Condos” by Canadian Business Magazine, and Powadiuk has been credited with helping turn Mount Mackenzie into Revelstoke Mountain Resort.
When asked on Thursday if Milborne and Powadiuk were part of the group interested in investing in VGD, Oberti said “I can’t verify anything at the moment, but hope to be able to do so by early next week.” He did confirm on Monday morning that Greg Marchant, a partner of Milborne’s, was in Valemount about a month and a half ago, but Oberti does not know who Robert Powadiuk is or whether he is one of the investment partners.
Oberti says work is continuing on developing the Master Plan. Environmental studies are continuing, and they’ve recently had to move a planned parking lot, because a small wetland area was identified that wasn’t previously marked.
There are at least two access roads to the resort base being considered. One possible route is via Pine Road, directly across Highway 5 from 5th Avenue. Starting at Pine Road could give village residents more direct access to the resort. Oberti says another option is Crooked Creek Road, which is shorter and more level than most other resort access roads, but would likely need upgrading eventually.
Shuttle busses would likely be considered for staff, especially if staff is primarily living within the village, which is currently the plan for a number of reasons, including keeping the centre of commercial activity within the village. Oberti says shuttle busses would normally be an operational item that’s dealt with later in the development, but it could be at least partly planned for in the Master Plan.
“Valemount may not have the budget capacity to start a transit system, but shuttle services are definitely do-able,” says Oberti.
Oberti reiterated that the group currently interested in funding the project up to the completion of the Master Plan is also capable of funding the entire project, though there has been no commitment yet. He says he’ll let the public know as soon as they have finalized an agreement on funding the rest of the Master Plan.

[LuvPow]

http://valemountglac...om/master-plan/

So the master plan has been submitted to the BC Provincial government... I would imagine it will be approved, Oberti has made many generous donations to the BC Liberal Party. At the village meeting that they held last week he was extremely opptimistic, especially with his timeline..he was telling the community lifts will be turning by Christmas of 2016

[Lift Dinosaur]

How does a ski-in / ski-out Airport work??
Dino

[LuvPow]

Lift Dinosaur, on 25 March 2015 - 10:22 AM, said:

How does a ski-in / ski-out Airport work??
Dino

well, not sure on that one.... they have yet to clarify whom exactly will be taking care of an upgraded airport from the current small airstrip.... but you might find out, I hear they have already asked Leitner Poma for lift quotes

[trj820]

So now we've got Garibaldi, Jumbo and this? Christ almighty this is going to saturate the market.

[Andy1962]

trj820, on 25 March 2015 - 09:34 PM, said:

So now we've got Garibaldi, Jumbo and this? Christ almighty this is going to saturate the market.

too funny, if it was not so pathetic. Exhibit A; Winter 2015: change in winter climate, western Canada, including southern BC and north-western USA including Washington State, . Numerous ski hills shut down early or did not open due to no snow. Word is the stock market already understands the scope of global warming. Exhibit B: CNL Properties exiting the ski resort ownership business. These proposed new projects will not get a dime out of smart investors. The projects aren't worth the paper they are printed on. At least that's my interpretation of the current situation and how it will be perceived. To make these projects float, they will need to sell year round activity, not just 3-4 months of skiing. Am I wrong? I say pathetic because the dreamers selling these projects have political connections and will use those connections to push the projects forward. The dreamers will get $$$. Investors will loss big time. and so will the grizzly bears. Just saying. I would much rather see tax dollars go to helping existing resorts put in snow making, then to see another now unspoiled valley paved over. Just not needed. End of rant.

This post has been edited by Andy1962: 26 March 2015 - 07:12 AM

[LuvPow]

https://www.youtube....h?v=vcF7I64rmX4

Not sure if this is worth watching, I have yet to do so..it is a community meeting with the developers of this resort in Valemount BC on youtube.

I did glance over his master plan..I had to laugh, Oberti said that Colorado resorts all had difficult access and that the Colorado Mountains were more like hills.. I guess he has never really skied Colorado resorts... he is really downplaying the great ski areas of Colorado. And at the beginning of his draft he states there are no other glacier skiing in N.America, yet near the end he contradicts himself by finally acknowledging Whistler Blackcomb and Mt. Hood Timberline.. not to mention he continually makes comparisons to Jumbo, which is not a ski area at this time and probably never will be ...... he's a salesman..

This post has been edited by LuvPow: 27 March 2015 - 08:58 AM

[Andy1962]

LuvPow, on 27 March 2015 - 08:57 AM, said:

https://www.youtube....h?v=vcF7I64rmX4

Not sure if this is worth watching, I have yet to do so..it is a community meeting with the developers of this resort in Valemount BC on youtube.

I did glance over his master plan..I had to laugh, Oberti said that Colorado resorts all had difficult access and that the Colorado Mountains were more like hills.. I guess he has never really skied Colorado resorts... he is really downplaying the great ski areas of Colorado. And at the beginning of his draft he states there are no other glacier skiing in N.America, yet near the end he contradicts himself by finally acknowledging Whistler Blackcomb and Mt. Hood Timberline.. not to mention he continually makes comparisons to Jumbo, which is not a ski area at this time and probably never will be ...... he's a salesman..

I watched enough of the first half of the video to agree that yes, Oberti is quite the salesman. I stand by my first comments. Other people's money means other people will lose money (not him) . This project will only be 4600 feet vertical (1300 meters). I say that is jest because taking raw grizzly bear territory, adding an Airport to deal with full size passenger jets, and adding a bunch of ski in/ ski out properties by paving over a bunch of nice mountain meadows. Really so Joe Public can ski an extra 700 vertical feet compared to other existing destinations in North America. Hell. No one builds real top to bottom ski runs. everywhere on their ski hill anyway. So the runs will be no different in size than existing product elsewhere. Most of the mountain will be formula out of a can, groomed corduroy, with runs and vertical no different than any other major ski resort in North America. That's my two cents. Watch the video and weep. .

This post has been edited by Andy1962: 27 March 2015 - 10:49 AM

[DonaldMReif]

Some of that guy's claims suggest he doesn't do research. You're right when saying he hasn't skied in Colorado. We have great skiing there, even if the vertical seems small in his opinion. (For the record, most of our resorts have a 3,000 to 3,500 foot vertical difference between the lowest point and the highest point; Breck has 3,400 feet of vertical between the bottom of Quicksilver and the tip of Peak 8; Vail has about a 3,500 foot difference in altitude between the base areas and the highest in-bounds point at the top of the Pete's Express lift; Beaver Creek has about a 4,000 foot altitude change between Arrowhead base and the top of the Cinch Express lift, etc.).

[SkiDaBird]

DonaldMReif, on 27 March 2015 - 02:37 PM, said:

Some of that guy's claims suggest he doesn't do research. You're right when saying he hasn't skied in Colorado. We have great skiing there, even if the vertical seems small in his opinion. (For the record, most of our resorts have a 3,000 to 3,500 foot vertical difference between the lowest point and the highest point; Breck has 3,400 feet of vertical between the bottom of Quicksilver and the tip of Peak 8; Vail has about a 3,500 foot difference in altitude between the base areas and the highest in-bounds point at the top of the Pete's Express lift; Beaver Creek has about a 4,000 foot altitude change between Arrowhead base and the top of the Cinch Express lift, etc.).

Vertical is a deceiving statistic. The 4000 at BC doesn't compare to the 3,300 of Snowbird because the only challenging section is the Birds of Prey area. The Big Sky vertical is continuous and difficult the whole way down, but North Summit's restricted access means so few people can ski it, it becomes irrelevant. If you want to really look at vertical, you have to try and find sustained pitches, which is what makes the mountains at Jackson, Revelstoke, Kicking Horse, Snowbird, and the few others truly impressive.
I'm not doubting Colorado skiing is fantastic, but Valemount probably falls into the special terrain category.

[Backbowlsbilly]

SkiDaBird you are correct, you can definitely feel the difference when you ski a place like Big Sky. North Summit was closed so we couldn't ski it but we did do Liberty Bowl all the way to Swifty and you can still feel it. (Liberty and Gullies were all that open on the line day I got to go on the tram, due to poor snow) Snowbird and Jackson also accentuate it because of the bottom to top trams at both mountains that serve the total vertical gain. Birds of Prey is plenty steep and long though so that can be a little bit misleading. Back to Valemount, I have no doubt that it has good skiing but would it be better served as heli or cat terrain? That way it would still be skiable without the negative impacts of major infrastructure that comes with building a traditional ski resort, especially the airstrip in the wilderness, that seems just plain silly to me.

[DonaldMReif]

The developers at Valemount seem over-ambitious.

[trj820]

So, looks like it's been approved for next summer. I just made a google earth overlay of the plan.
https://www.dropbox....50R_8suVQa?dl=0
Make sure to download the image, and use it in the link for the overlay.

[passengerpigeon]

trj820, on 31 March 2017 - 02:32 PM, said:

So, looks like it's been approved for next summer.

The whole thing?! Good lord, please tell me this is an April Fools' joke...

[Lift Dinosaur]

passengerpigeon, on 01 April 2017 - 03:28 PM, said:

The whole thing?! Good lord, please tell me this is an April Fools' joke...

Calmness, Grasshopper. The whole Project has been approved. No one said it would ALL be built next year.
When you present a Master Plan, you present BIG!
Dino

[passengerpigeon]

Lift Dinosaur, on 01 April 2017 - 07:03 PM, said:

Calmness, Grasshopper. The whole Project has been approved. No one said it would ALL be built next year.
When you present a Master Plan, you present BIG!
Dino

Perhaps my comment was a bit hasty. Although I cannot view the KML file on Google Earth, I can see now that the Valemount valley is already developed with visible industry and agriculture. With the Canadian Rockies being so big, there is plenty of identical habitat and topography in regions better preserved than Valemount, so no rare habitat is being lost. Maybe this won't be so bad after all - I guess I've just been in a "NO MORE LIFTS!" mood lately after learning about the new 3S on Mount Fansipan. I look forward to reading the entire proposal if I can manage to download it.

This post has been edited by passengerpigeon: 02 April 2017 - 12:00 AM

[trj820]

passengerpigeon, on 02 April 2017 - 12:00 AM, said:

Perhaps my comment was a bit hasty. Although I cannot view the KML file on Google Earth, I can see now that the Valemount valley is already developed with visible industry and agriculture. With the Canadian Rockies being so big, there is plenty of identical habitat and topography in regions better preserved than Valemount, so no rare habitat is being lost. Maybe this won't be so bad after all - I guess I've just been in a "NO MORE LIFTS!" mood lately after learning about the new 3S on Mount Fansipan. I look forward to reading the entire proposal if I can manage to download it.

I'd recommend that you download Google Earth Pro. Not only can you view the master plan with it, but it's useful for viewing the layouts of other resorts.