The Site

Location and Access

The Jumbo Creek Valley is near the centre of a group of majestic glaciers at an elevation of over 3,000 metres (9,842 feet). These glaciers are well known and are already utilized for helicopter skiing.

Some may assert that natural beauty is accessible to anyone by hiking with a backpack, but the reality is that rugged high elevation mountains and glaciers can be dangerous. The majority of the people do not have the physical strength, training or the will to access mountains in this manner. For the vast majority of people, reaching the top of mountains — to have the satisfaction of the view and the experience of an impressive glacier — is too hazardous an undertaking to be even considered, except by means of lifts or transportation by aircraft.

The area under study is approximately 35 kilometres (19 miles) beyond Panorama Mountain Village on an existing road to an abandoned sawmill site located in the upper Jumbo Creek Valley. It is accessed from Invermere, in the Columbia River Valley in B.C.'s East Kootenay region, between Radium Hot Springs and Fairmont Hot Springs. The resort's location is unique both because of climatic conditions and because it offers access to major glaciers from an existing infrastructure that is only a short distance away.

Panorama Mountain Village, a well-known regional ski resort, is approximately 18 kilometres (11 miles) from Invermere, and is accessible via a paved "rural collector" highway. The local heli-ski company utilizes another 20 kilometres (12 miles) of road through the winter months to bus its skiers to a helicopter landing closer to the glaciers, at the former Mineral King Mine site, where Jumbo Creek flows into Toby Creek, which is the river that flows through Panorama. The proposed resort is another 15 kilometres (9 miles) northwest into the Jumbo Creek drainage, at the location of a former sawmill site, which is accessible by means of a forestry road that is currently passable by regular cars in summer.

The total distance from the proposed resort to Invermere is approximately 53 kilometres (33 miles).

A new airport, certified for commuter jet plane service of the Boeing 737 class, has been built at Fairmont Hot Springs. Airline service connecting Fairmont Hot Springs to Vancouver and Calgary has been proposed, was briefly implemented in 1996, and was resumed in 2000 for a year. The airport is 70 kilometres (43 miles) from the resort site and it was serviced by Montair, with flights to Vancouver on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. A larger airport is located at Cranbrook; this airport, approximately two and a half hours away, could become a major tourist facility and was recently expanded. It is now called the Canadian Rockies International Airport, with scheduled service to Salt Lake City, Vancouver and Calgary. Service is expected to increase as the market expands, particularly once Fernie, Kimberley, Panorama, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and the proposed project increase the bed base.

The highways leading to the site from the nearby population centres and major airports are so pleasant that it is anticipated that tourists will either overnight in the National Parks or drive directly to the site enjoying the scenic routes that are available. There is a large bed base, an estimated 30,000 beds of residents, tourist accommodation and second homes in the Windermere Valley, within an hour's driving distance to the site. The bed base within two hours' driving distance is estimated at 80,000 and growing. The glaciers and the unique skiing will be a destination for both local and far away visitors.

  A Truly Unique Resort  |  The Climate  |  Fundamental Reasons for the Choice  

A Truly Unique Resort

Although every resort is called unique, Jumbo Glacier Resort will be truly a different one, in a class by itself in North America.

Although the proposed project would not intrude into the drainage of the spectacular Lake of the Hanging Glacier, it would offer an impressive viewpoint from the top of Glacier Dome.

Access to the top of major glaciers is not offered anywhere on the continent except by means of helicopters. It will make access to glaciers affordable to the majority of people who are discouraged by helicopter transportation. It will begin to modify a situation where the majority of British Columbians will never see most of the spectacular scenery of their Province in their lifetime, and allow people in North America to see major mountaintops without having to travel to South America or Europe.

Until now, on the entire North American continent, mountains with vast glaciers — such as Jumbo Mountain at 3,419 metres (11,217 feet) elevation — have been accessible only by helicopter or by foot. This is despite the continent's immense size and abundant availability of glaciated mountain peaks. By comparison, in Europe, in areas of the Alps ranging from the Jungfrau to the Monte Rosa, from the Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn, railways and lifts have provided access for viewing — and in many cases for skiing — from similar elevations, since the end of the nineteenth century.

The Jumbo Glacier Resort concept is to achieve a year round facility focusing on sightseeing* and a different kind of skiing in the mountains, bringing a new experience of nature to the majority of the tourist population. Seeing majestic mountains and being on them, and amongst them, will be the prime experience. It is our opinion that North America is ready for access by means of lifts to the top of some of its major glaciers, at least in one place on the entire continent.

Besides sightseeing and the experience of nature on the mountains, the concept focuses on skiing and snowboarding as its main sporting activity and as a year round experience. Some people may note that the ski market is leveling off and that there is no room for new facilities. We believe that this assumption is based on a wrong reading of existing statistical data and that a more accurate survey of world tourism shows quite clearly that British Columbia can increase its market and benefit greatly from the kind of facility that is being proposed. The market is constantly looking for new and better experiences, and as is outlined in this article (20K PDF), the skier market is in fact growing, particularly in Western Canada.

British Columbia has shown continued growth in its skier market, growing by 400% in the past thirty years. It is the different experience of skiing in a truly grand and natural environment, versus skiing primarily as an athletic exercise (often in adverse climatic and snow conditions and in ski runs artificially cut through forests), that supports the need for the proposed lift services in the area selected. Skier visits have reached record highs in both the United States and Canada in recent years. In fact, 2004 was a record year (100K PDF) for skier visits even in the Kootenays and the newly opened Kicking Horse Mountain Resort showed that new mountain resort projects do not poach from existing ones. In fact, Panorama's skier visits grew in tandem with Kicking Horse's opening.

However, despite Whistler and other resorts in British Columbia, the Province only achieves approximately 6 million skier days per year, versus over 12 million skier days for a State like Colorado. Yet British Columbia has better airline and road access for the overseas and North American traveler, and B.C.'s mountains are generally more suitable for year round sporting activities because of elevation, climate, latitude, vertical drops and glaciers.

* Although the proposal project would not intrude into the drainage of the spectacular Lake of the Hanging Glacier, it would offer an impressive viewpoint from the top of Glacier Dome.

The Climate & Skiing

North American geography, access, climate, and conservation areas restrict the regions where the best winter and summer tourism developments can take place. Although the Rocky Mountains and adjoining mountain chains extend from Alaska to New Mexico and beyond, only British Columbia has large chains of mountains in ideal climatic conditions with glaciers, outstanding ski slopes and dramatic scenery.

It is different from Colorado, which has valley bases over 2,000 metres (6,562 feet), which can be a problem for visitors from low elevation urban areas. Vail and Aspen are above 2,500 metres (8,202 feet). In the interior of British Columbia, suitable valley bases generally range from 1,000 to 1,800 metres (3,281 to 5906 feet) and mountain tops are mostly between 2,800 and 3,500 metres (9,186 to 11,483 feet), with skiing conditions that are similar to the Alps, but with a superior climate in its dry interior areas. This is why helicopter skiing was born in the Purcell Range of British Columbia.

700 metres (2,300 feet) vertical drop of glacier skiing available throughout the summer; 1,700 metres (5,500 feet) vertical drop of powder skiing available in winter.

The site was selected not only because of its easy access, but because snow fall and climatic conditions in the area are exceptionally good with an average snow base of two and a half metres (8 feet) to four metres (12 feet) at the resort base site — approximately 1,700 metres (5,500 feet) above sea level. Unlike at other ski resorts in British Columbia, snow making will not be required at Jumbo Glacier Resort. In addition, while many ski resorts in B.C. are subject to rain even in the middle of winter, upper Jumbo Valley and its surrounding glaciers maintain the quality of the snow for the duration of the winter. The snow is dry and the weather is gentle, below freezing but warmer and less windy than in the Rocky Mountains to the East.

Top proposed lift elevations reach 3,000 metres (9,900 feet) at Glacier Dome and 3,415 metres (11,150 feet) at Jumbo Mountain, with access to year round skiing on impressive glaciers. Climatic conditions are ideal, with a stable and protected environment leading to a predictable amount of annual snowfall and yet with drier climatic conditions and with a higher than average number of sunshine days. The area is protected from the humid climate of the Pacific Coast and also from the cold Arctic air that penetrates Banff National Park. The local heli-ski company has been reporting for years that on average it calculates that it has only six (6) days per winter in which it cannot fly the helicopter and operate because of bad weather.

The proposed resort, with a base elevation of approximately 1,700 metres (5,500 feet), will be able to operate year round with up to 700 metres (2,300 feet) vertical drop of glacier skiing available throughout the summer, at elevations in the 3,000 metres (9,900 feet) range. In winter, there will be a vertical drop of over 1,715 metres (5,540 feet) of powder skiing from top to bottom.

The vertical drop available in summer will equal that of many existing ski resorts in winter, and will easily be the most expansive summer ski area in North America. In winter, the resort will offer the continent's longest 100% natural snow vertical drop, longer than at all existing resorts in North America.

Finally, recent climate trends and evidence of global warming present perhaps what is a conclusive argument in favour of the project. "For low altitude places like Whistler, BC, that play hide-and-go-seek with freezing levels anyway, winters where temperature averages are only one or two degrees warmer than normal could mean the difference between piles of snow or piles of dirt."* Not so in the Jumbo Creek Valley and on its mountaintops, where high elevations and substantially lower freezing levels would not be dramatically affected by a rise in average temperature.

* Skier Magazine, Vol. 2, Issue 4, Spring 2003, "Meltdown," page 34

Fundamental Reasons for the Choice

It is necessary to emphasize the reasons why the Proponent has selected this project, and continued to pursue it over a period of many years. Although forestry and mining will continue to be the backbone of the economy of the Province for years to come, commercial tourism is the most vibrant sector of the economy in British Columbia and a major industry that is sustainable and immediately poised for currency import growth without the export of natural resources.

The selected location is unique for the above noted strategy. The Jumbo Creek Valley has features that make it not replaceable with some other location for the following reasons:

1. Once all possible locations are examined, it has the best climate , elevation (1,700 metre base elevation) and sun exposure in North America, perhaps in the world, for a mountain resort. The valley is southward facing, combining the best snow and sun conditions at the right elevations.

2. It is at the base of scenic high elevation glaciers (3,400 metres) that allow full summer skiing and snowboarding.

3. It is the only Valley with the above noted features that is easily and economically accessible from a very substantial existing infrastructure, including Panorama Resort, about 35 kilometres (22 miles) away, and the Windermere Valley, with its lake, six golf courses and over twenty thousand beds of residents, summer homes and hotels, about 55 kilometres (34 miles) away.

The selected site was also noted as early as 1982 in the Federal-Provincial study The B.C. Rocky Mountain Tourism Region as one of the two locations that would be suitable for destination ski resorts in the East Kootenay. The other was at the headwaters of Horsethief Creek, which is on the northern side of Glacier Dome and Jumbo Mountain. Every B.C. Government of the last twenty (20) years has supported the policies that are the basis of the application and have encouraged the proponent through the labyrinth of the approval process.

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