$127.9 Million Expansion To Big White Ski Resort Will Include New Lifts, Runs, Terrain Park , and Luxury Accommodations
Big White Ski Resort Ltd. has announced a massive summer construction project scheduled for completion prior to the start of the 2004-2005 winter season. $127.9 million is the total value that will be spent on infrastructure and luxury accommodation and will include two new chair lifts, a state-of-the-art ski and snowboard terrain park , new on-mountain day lodge including viewing deck, six new intermediate and advanced runs expanding the resort skiable terrain by 200 acres, two new grooming machines, and luxury resort accommodation bringing the total on-mountain bed base total to over 14,000 beds.
Terrain Park:
The new Terrain Park area will centralize our snowboard and ski park, rail garden, half pipes, boarder/skier-cross, and our fun family race area. It will be one of the best training facilities for snowboard and free skiing in North America. The park will incorporate an Olympic size 450 foot-long Super Pipe with 17-foot transitional walls that meets World Cup FIS and X Games standards. Other features will include a regular-sized Half Pipe with 12' walls, 450 feet in length; an intermediate terrain and rail park; an Advanced Combined Terrain and Rail Park; a Boarder/Skier -Cross Course capable of hosting Olympic FIS qualifying events; World Cup Ski and Snowboard Events, and X games qualifiers and National Championships. To compliment and help build these features, there will be snowmaking throughout the park area. This will allow the features and half pipes to be opened earlier in the season. This area will also be the home to 2010 go for the Gold Fun race course with lanes for skiers and snowboarders. Overlooking all of these venues will be a on-mountain lodge with food and beverage facilities, a large out door deck and washroom facilities. Servicing this entire area will be a 1800' double chair for fast turn around times, allowing more and better training, convenience, and a great view of competitors and events. The park will also be lit for night skiing and riding, making it a truly one of kind facility. The lighting will provide another venue for fun evening activity and great training. "This area will provide something for everyone from kids and families to world class athletes. We've been moving in this direction for a long time and now it is a reality!" said Flynn Seddon, Director of Snowboarding.
Cost: $2.5 million
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New Cliff Chair:
A project much talked about and anticipated is coming this summer. The Cliff will see construction of a Double Chair to allow both skiers and snowboarders better access and turn around times to our famous 'Cliff Area.' Diagram outlining location below. The lift will be approximately 1800' long with a vertical drop of 800'. Along with this construction, the area boundary will be expanded to include the East Peak! "This is a tremendously exciting project for both local and destination skiers and snowboarders alike. I know a lot of people have talked about this for years and now it's here," expressed Blair Ireland, Director of Guest Services.
Cost: $1 million
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New Runs at Gem Lake:
To the west of Blue Ribbon off the Gem Lake Express, six new intermediate runs will be cut this summer. This will add just under 200 acres of skiable terrain and increase our overall skiable terrain to just under 2800 acres. Adding more intermediate terrain to Gem Lake will make this area more attractive to both Kelowna area skiers/snowboarders and vacationers, and increase the variety of trails. This is the first phase of expansion of the Gem Lake area, with more to come in the future.
Cost: $500,000
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New Grooming Machines:
To help groom and maintain all of these new areas, Big White Ski Resort Ltd. is happy to announce the purchase of two additional grooming machines. Slope grooming not only maintains runs, covers terrain with snow, and makes bumps flat, but also lays down a 'carpet of corduroy' finish. The machines also groom and cut the halfpipes, build the terrain park features, construct the Boarder/Skier-Cross, and maintain them all. Big White Ski Resort has received various awards for high quality grooming and has a world-class reputation for its half pipes. Big White added two grooming machines to its fleet last year.
Cost: $500,000
Summer Grooming:
The on-hill summer grooming program continues with more improvement to ensure great early season skiing.
On-hill Summer Grooming, cost: $300,000
Bigger Planes to Kelowna:
Along with the new infrastructure, Horizon Air has announced larger planes to service Kelowna from Seattle. The Q400, 70 seater aircraft will effectively double the passenger capacity of Saturdays and Sundays. Scheduled departure times on Saturdays and Sundays from Seattle are at approximately 10:30am and 2:30pm to allow connections from many western and eastern gateway cities. Kelowna International Airport is the 11th busiest airport in Canada.
Real Estate:
The Big White Real Estate market continues its torrid pace. Over 1,000 beds will be constructed this summer in various on-mountain developments. This will bring the bed base to over 14,000 on-mountain beds. Some of the highlights will be:
Trailside - 51 units...........................................................................................$15 million
Sundance - 31 units.........................................................................................$12.4 million
Spyglass - 12 quarter shares............................................................................$ 6 million
The Timbers - 19 units .....................................................................................$ 8.5 million
The Aspens, Phase 3 - 49 units........................................................................$ 23.5 million
Perfection Ridge - Phase 3 - 8 units...................................................................$ 4.5 million
5050 Snowbird Drive, 18 units............................................................................$ 7.5 million
Solitude, Phase 1 - 10 units..............................................................................$ 4.7 million
The Forest, 6 units...........................................................................................$ 3 million
Rock Ridge, 4 units..........................................................................................$ 8 million
Towering Pines, 12 units...................................................................................$ 5 million
The Crescent, 10 units......................................................................................$ 4 million
Glacier Lodge, 18 units.....................................................................................$ 6 million
Copper Kettle, 28 units.....................................................................................$15 million
Total Accommodation Investment: $123.1 million
Total investment at Big White Ski Resort for the summer of 2004 is $127.9 million