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New Valemount Glacier Resort (British Columbia)

4K views 41 replies 20 participants last post by  hoots_manuva 
#1 ·
#3 ·
One thing is for sure - Oberti is hell bent on creating some kind of mega-resort as his legacy.

Its the same developers who were behind the Jumbo project.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Either way, from a Business perspective, I just can't see the massive crowds required to justify this type of development, travelling that far.

If this does go ahead, I wonder if this will finally be the end of the Jumbo resort?
 
#4 ·
I thought Jumbo was pretty much dead for all intents and purposes? Am I wrong?

I don't know a whole lot about Valemont, but it seems it will probably hit similar opposition at some point. Maybe not though.

Jumbo was just not a good idea given the area. Can't say if this project is of the same cloth.
 
#5 ·
Hope they put in an airport..... they will need alot of traffic going to and from. Maybe they can get a winter Olympics "in Calgary" and the gov will pay for all the upgrades to the highways.

If they dont go crazy with lodges at first and just put in lifts with minimal fluff it could grow to be a mega resort. They could also just say fuck it and go all the way. It would eventually get a crowd.

I would make the trip.
 
#6 ·
It says in the project location area of the above website:

"The Valemount Airport is located within 300 meters (948 feet) of the project’s controlled recreation area making it possible to ski to and from the airport (via a short shuttle bus ride)."

I know nothing of the area, but seems like quite the resort they are going for. Will be interesting to see if this comes to fruition.
 
#7 ·
My assumption is based solely on satellite imagery of the airport. It is more like a bush plane landing strip with no buildings, terminals, access for bigger commuter jets, hangars or even parking for private planes. Probably need skis to land there in winter.

Even revelstoke airport has more capacity/capability than this.
 
#8 ·
My assumption is based solely on satellite imagery of the airport. It is more like a bush plane landing strip with no buildings, terminals, access for bigger commuter jets, hangars or even parking for private planes. Probably need skis to land there in winter.
Yeah, I didn't look at any stats of the airport, just saw what they said on the website. I didn't figure it was a giant metro airport, but only knew what they said. Would be nice to have a true "ride-in-ride-out" airport though hahah
 
#10 ·
This is probably a slap in the face at the Jumbo opposition. Sort of what Whistler did when selling. Prov approved a competing resort, they sold. No approval or Jumbo? we take it somewhere else.

There's a lot of small airports in BC and AB. Small strip and a little building, no customs or anything. A couple of flights from Victoria or Vancouver and that's it...
 
#11 ·
Thats all I'm suggesting. Just a regional that can handle a commuter jet. Revy is just big enough. The strip at this place is, or looks, way smaller from space. If they want it to be a "destination mega resort" it will need better airport service.
 
#12 ·
Yeah but Revv was a town before it was a resort. I dont think they'd build an international airport just yet. Get a reasonable regional airport, a few flights a day from Vancouver, Calgary and wait for the place to catch some wind with local support..... Then get the province to build you an international airport and highway and sell.
 
#13 ·
The town of valemount is super small. Population of 1k. According Some of the videos I watched, they are expecting a lot of the tourists that visit jasper to fill the chairs.

It'll be interesting in how much this is going to affect marmot basin as you pretty much drive by it if your going by car to get to valemount.

After the initial build phase, I wonder how much it'll grow after. Because comparing this to Revy, I think revy has had plans to expand for years, but can't justify the cost. As awesome as revy is, it still only has 1 upload Gondi and just 2 chair lifts for the whole hill.

Regardless, if they build it, I will come :grin:
 
#17 ·
Just go to tele, alpine skiers have a similar angst against them too. Lol.

Then you dont have to say "i ski" you can say "i tele". However, even good tele skiers have issues on the more sheer faces of alpine ski venues. I have snowboarded down the course at beaver creek just after races and it is no fun....
 
#19 ·
I read through some of the Valmount Master Plan PDF. Slow day here, what can I say. Looks very interesting. Massive place. Over 7,000 foot vertical drop! :surprise: That's nuts. About 2,000 feet more than Revy. That's like the big Alps resorts.

This place is in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. I mean there is nothing within 2 or 3 hours of that place. Really far from even a small city. This place will be dead if they ever build it. But I like a quiet resort, that's why I haven't been to Whistler yet.

Anyone wanna buy land in Valemount with me?
 
#20 ·
There's no way that this is going to come close to what Revelstoke is currently (let alone what Revelstoke is planned to become) for at least 15 years. It will be very difficult to grow and fund it. Revelstoke is on the Trans Canada, and while it's a bit of a drive, it's a high traffic corridor.

Nobody goes up through Valemount. And there is no such thing as a mega resort that is quiet. Because for it to be giant, it takes a lot of capital, and that takes a lot of visits. There are other resorts in BC that are money pits in financial trouble, and they have much more population.
 
#22 ·
From the local paper in Prince George. Sounds like, as opposed to some other similar developments, this one actually has the backing of all the major interest groups.

Boards on the slopes by Christmas 2017 could be ambitious though?


Article :

The B.C. government earlier this month approved Valemount Glacier Destinations Ltd.'s (VGDL) master plan to build what could eventually be a $500 million ski resort near Valemount in central B.C. near the Alberta border.

Initial financing for an approximately $85 million first phase is coming largely from a trust run by Toronto real estate tycoon Greg Marchant, with other investors including Toronto condo-marketing guru Hunter Milborne. Resource industry entrepreneur and North American Tungsten Corp. founder Stephen Leahy has been a minor investor.

The resort's success, however, is far from a sure thing even though it has a breadth of political support that developers of other proposed B.C. ski resorts can only dream of.

Local politicians and New Democratic Party leader John Horgan support VGDL's proposal. So does Green Party of B.C. leader Andrew Weaver, who posted an essay on his website extolling the virtues of the venture.

More importantly, the area's Simpcw First Nation sees VGDL's project as a way to stimulate the area's economy and top up its own coffers.

"We have lands within the resort area that we can develop ourselves," Simpcw chief Nathan Matthew told Business in Vancouver.

"We could develop housing, hotels and whatever else we can rustle up the financing for," Matthew said.

He said his nation has been involved in the project from the beginning and that environmental impacts are minimal.

"It's really not caribou habitat," he said. "There might be one or two that wander into the area but it's not their main area."

The Simpcw have no ancient burial grounds or other spiritual sites in the area. In contrast, the Ktunaxa Nation opposes the proposed Jumbo ski resort in the eastern Kootenays in southern B.C. in part because the band says that Jumbo would encroach on sacred areas.

The plan is for VGDL to build lifts and groom trails so the first paying customers can ski down Mount Pierre Elliott Trudeau and stay in local hotels by December 2017.

They aim to follow the maxim, "build it and they will come," though exactly who will come and from where remain open questions.

Valemount has an airport with a runway nearly 4,000 feet long but there are no scheduled flights, nor is there a traffic control tower. The airport services private jets and other small planes.

VGDL's site is about a three-hour drive from Kamloops Airport, which is serviced by both Air Canada and WestJet. It is nearly three hours away by car from Prince George Airport, which similarly has scheduled flights from domestic airlines.

Project manager and Pheidias Group principal Tommaso Oberti told BIV that he expects most visitors initially to come by car from Jasper National Park, which is about 80 minutes away by car.

"Jasper gets about 3.5 million visitors a year," he said. "That's about the same amount as the community of Whistler."

His research shows that Jasper's visitors come from all over the world and not predominantly Edmonton, which is about four hours away by car.

Still, it is northern Albertans who will be one large source of visitors to VGDL's resort. Many of those people currently drive similar distances to get to Lake Louise in Banff to ski, Oberti said.

His initial projection is for VGDL's resort to attract 130,000 visitors in its first year, which is half of the customer base of Jasper's Marmot Basin - a resort that Oberti said is nowhere near as nice as the one VGDL will build.

Another main source of visitors will be Prince George, Oberti said, because a lot of residents of that city travel to Powder Mountain, which is about the same distance away as Valemount.

The selling point for VGDL's resort is that starting on Day 1, it will have year-round glacier skiing, access up to an elevation of 8,530 feet and a vertical drop of about 5,775 feet during the first phase of the project.

That will increase to 9,850 feet in elevation and a 6,726-foot vertical drop by full build-out in an estimated 20 years.

There is also the opportunity for hiking and access to scenic lookouts in the summer.

Attracting Vancouver residents could still prove difficult, given that the resort is a seven-hour drive away, along the Coquihalla and Yellowhead highways.
 
#25 ·
From their PR:

Imagine this:

An enormous ski area with boundless dry powder snow that will feature one of the world’s greatest vertical drops, reaching an incredible 2,090 meters (6,857 feet) at project build-out. All of this is above the natural snow line — with no man-made snow. Imagine this amidst a spectacular scenery of flowing glaciers and tall, majestic mountain tops, including views of Mount Robson, the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies. Welcome to Valemount.


 
#30 ·
Aside from the possibility of access to epic terrain for an extended season,.. The bit about being able to access the resort by rail was intriguing.

I hate flying! (...not afraid mind you, just hate the whole cattle car aspect of it all!) I do however like train travel. If it doesn't have to be a 3-4 day ordeal that could make for a more relaxing & comfortable trip. No worries about lost or restricted luggage. No tiny cramped seats, or 9-19 hours in planes & airports to complete a measly 4-5 hour flight.

I'd be interested in this! :D
 
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#37 · (Edited)
sweet.. now i just need to make sure i don't ruin my knees in the 10 years it'll take them to complete this thing.

From what I understand, they're modeling it after Europe where you have a town in the middle, and you can ski down to it from mountains on all sides

I wonder how much you could buy a house up there for.... i bet if you get in early you coul dmake a killing on some real estate.
 
#42 ·
It starts at $80,000 + for freehold lots in the vicinity of Valemount, and the cheapest freehold property with a home (mobile) on it is currently priced at $109,000 ...
 
#39 ·
Aside from the possibility of access to epic terrain for an extended season,.. The bit about being able to access the resort by rail was intriguing.

I hate flying! (...not afraid mind you, just hate the whole cattle car aspect of it all!) I do however like train travel. If it doesn't have to be a 3-4 day ordeal that could make for a more relaxing & comfortable trip. No worries about lost or restricted luggage. No tiny cramped seats, or 9-19 hours in planes & airports to complete a measly 4-5 hour flight.

I'd be interested in this![//QUOTE]

Travelling by train is super cool, its one of the few positive things about living near Tokyo, I can at least take the shinkansen bullet train up to the mountains.........70 to 90 mins (depending on which train you take) gets you from Super Metropolis to Super Pow. Of course I much preferred it when it was a 30 min subway and bus journey from downtown Sapporo to the Super Pow but hey, I gotta look for the positives these days!
 
#40 · (Edited)
I'm still highly skeptical of this project ever getting even half built. It's cool they are opening this opening winter but what services will they have? There aren't enough people around there to fill a double chair and no medium or large population center within 2-3 hours drive.

Good luck to the developers it could be epic and I always like more places to go, but it's a long shot. But still, I might have to check this place out next winter.

EDIT:

I see Liftopia has updated their story saying that it will open December 2018 not 2017. That makes more sense, hopefully they will have decent services. I was in Marmot Basin in Jasper in March and it kinda sucks so they should be able to pull people away from Marmot fairly easily. Jasper might be headed for a boom if Valemont gets going.
 
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