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Timmc
climber
BC
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 8, 2012 - 09:13am PT
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On March 21st the BC government approved a $900 million mega ski resort in the heart of the Purcells(just south of the Bugaboos).
At least 23 lifts/gondolas are slated to be built on 4 glaciers.
Despite over 20 years of local opposition to this project, it has been rammed through by mysterious investors spearheaded by a relentless developer.
There are myriad reasons why this is a bad move:
-this resort would chop the Purcells in half, seriously hindering grizzlies from moving in a North South direction and breeding with bears south of the border.
-Over 100 slide paths threaten the access to the resort.
-there are at least ten ski hills within 3 hours- many of them not to capacity
-Majority of locals are flat out against this and many who spend time in this valley are hunters, skiers, climbers, backpackers. Difference is we go home at night.
-First Nations are apposed.
Etc
I guess I have an opinion about this.
http://www.vancouversun.com/touch/...Jumbo...resort+near.../story.html?..
jumbowild.com
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Timmc
climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 8, 2012 - 10:12am PT
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Bruce-based on the fact that in Invermere our last two mayors and all council members have been voted in based primarily on there opposition -I would say 80% are against it. It seems that some folks with an economic stake (realtors) are silently pro Jumbo resort.
Most contractors will come from Alberta as it is.
Lets not forget the West Kootenays- Nelson, Kaslo, Argenta- are dead against it and are probably getting there blockade tackle together.
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Timmc
climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 8, 2012 - 10:17am PT
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Jim- agreed. Clarke is and cronies are selling BC off. Look at the pipelines that are getting approval.
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WBraun
climber
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The world has been practicing Eco-genocide for a long long time now.
It's unbelievable how stupid we are ......
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tooth
Trad climber
B.C.
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[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3bKmz4od3g]
A patient of mine who works in photography has been actively putting together postcards, videos and lobbying the federal government to stop the pipeline to Kitimat. Here's a video he gave me to watch - it makes me sick. The prime minister's number is at the end, I gave him a call and voiced my opinion. You should too.
P.S. a large percentage of my patients are families whose man goes up north to work in gold/oil for a month at a time. So by like 40%, I'm living off of the industry created by oil. But I'm willing to wait, and find other ways to create work/energy rather than risk more ecological disasters.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Just finished that documentary Tooth linked. It's really good. Worth 45 minutes of your time for sure.
I second/third the we're stupid thing too.. although "stupid" is such an inadequate description.
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Most business folks don't believe in their heart of hearts that something like the Bugs have much if any inherent value.
"Value" comes from one source: what kind of mulah can be generated through the commercial use of said lands. Otherwise all that usable land and mountainside just sits there, underutilized, enjoyed by a minority of tree huggers, ski bums and cliff climbers who want it all to themselves.
JL
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bmacd
Boulder climber
100% Canadian
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The project promoters dont care if the project is feasible or not because they dont have to see it through to end to make their money. Lobby the government to carve off some crown land at firesale prices, pre-sell investors on the "dream" lure in developers and contractors on credit. This is a well practised and common business plan, just the same as the Squamish gondola project.
This kind of stuff is purposed to fail, and the promoters still make millions on the investors they have duped, leaving another failed legacy scarring the British Columbia landscape.
Just another scam enabled by these Liberal party idiots that keep getting re-elected in BC
Sell the Hype - thats what you have to do to skim a few million. Bring in more Chinese criminals on investment immigration policies, build an airport - yah baby, to the moon !
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Timmc
climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 8, 2012 - 08:47pm PT
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Indeed it is doomed to fail if ever built. It will be a 4-5 hour drive from Calgary-closest international airport.
I agree with you guys- it doesn't matter if it fails, just get it built, displace wildlife, get a hit of construction boom, then move onto the next best and greatest project.
This thing at build out will be twice the size of Whistler/ Blackcomb- hard to believe.
Funny how it will be modeled after a European mega resort but all winter long Europeans fly over here and heliski in places like Jumbo and the Bugaboos- to experience wildness that is long gone in their countries.
RK Heliskiing has been operating in Jumbo for 40 years and are vehemently opposed.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Timmc,
Your URL with the ...s looks like it was copied from some other forum.
Is this the URL you meant?
http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Jumbo+Glacier+saga+shows+need+strict+timelines/6371416/story.html
The story above says that the investors are not committed yet.
It does seem like an unlikely area for a large ski area, so far from population centers.
Do you think it will really happen?
I.e. will investors really take a risk on this?
I recall there are logging roads / active logging just south of the Bugaboos.
But this would be a higher impact development.
Of course existing heliski operators in the area would be opposed, since this would undercut their price.
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Timmc
climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 9, 2012 - 09:15am PT
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Clint:
Thanks for fixing that- I'm posting from a crappy PC in the middle of Oman.
Do i think it will actually be built? No, but I suspect there will be blockades and protests and a battle royale before it will be shut down.
Too much is at stake and the locals feel betrayed by a government that doesn't appear to care.
I grew up in the 80's where logging, companies backed by the government, refused to admit to over cutting of old growth forests on the west Coast of BC.
It took a grass roots movement to bring attention to the world with much help from Greenpeace and the Sierra club etc. Many were arrested.
Logging companies no longer are able to log indiscriminately and are held accountable.
Many of the valleys in the Purcells have logging roads except for the Purcell Conservancy (just South of proposed resort)which is largely unroaded. The difference is everybody goes home at night- no permanent dwellings.
The heli ski company will loose it's bread and butter runs in Jumbo and loose tenure.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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May 30, 2012 - 01:19pm PT
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At this point, the most effective tactic may be to get one or other of the local First Nations to start a court action, and as part of it, to ask for an injunction preventing the government from taking any irrevocable steps until it's heard. The current provincial government seems likely to be defeated, or significantly made over, next spring, and perhaps a new government would have different views. Though for all I know the NDP thinks Jumbo would be just great - what's their platform on it?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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May 30, 2012 - 04:31pm PT
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Is it just me or does it seem like the Right Wingers are getting bolder and crazier as they sense the walls closing in on them?
Must.....resist.....temptation....
And then there's Enbridge's big PR campaign, which started yesterday, to persuade us all that the "northern gateway" proposal for exporting tar sands bitumen is altogether harmless.
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SeanH
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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May 30, 2012 - 07:20pm PT
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Awww, here I was hoping Sharma was working a new line, and it's just a bunch of politics :P (jk)
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Timmc
climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 3, 2012 - 07:59am PT
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Thanks Bruce for posting up that article on the municipality with no voters.
Lets hope the Regional District will take back the decision and kill it.
Resort would be just below skier in the valley. You can see one of the monster slide paths that rake the valley. The avalache control program would be larger than Rogers Pass.
My kids have been hiking in Jumbo since wee sprogs.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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-there are at least ten ski hills within 3 hours- many of them not to capacity
Okay, forget the eco crap. This is just flat-out a bad investment.
Way cheaper to buy an existing operation and pump it up to super resort level. I just don't see the market for this operation.
If they even get it up, mother nature may give their karma a thrashing. May they have 20 years of slush only.
EDIT: I'd bet this is not about greed as in making money, 'cause this thing is going to be a looser. This is about someone who wants to have a personal chalet in a certain spot. He's willing to dick the whole mountain for his personal comfort. Another monument to an ego.
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Timmc
climber
BC
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 3, 2012 - 11:22am PT
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Bruce- you hoar!
Thanks Greg
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Just what the world needs...another enviro-disaster on public lands providing recreation for societies elite...
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Spider, these guys have been patiently pushing their project for over 20 years, and would have to invest hundreds of millions. It's about much more than someone wanting a personal chalet.
The figure that used to be bandied about was that ski resorts had to be at most four hours from an international airport, or they'd quickly lose market. (Whistler is 2 - 3 hours from YVR.) Jumbo is farther from Calgary, the only major airport 'nearby'. There are local airports, e.g. at Cranbrook, but I don't know if they'd be up to the job.
This is a long term project, probably not paying off for decades, and requiring huge upfront investment in infrastructure and development. Whether they'll be able to create a large enough market, and develop enough real estate, to make it pay seems doubtful.
The process that has been used to examine the Jumbo proposal isn't as flawed as that at Squamish, apart from the provincial government overriding local governments, but the stakes are higher.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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The NDP, along with everyone else, is strongly opposed to this nonsense. Hopefully it can somehow be stalled until next spring, when the NDP will form the next government. After fighting this 'development' for 22 years, it would be ironic if we lost by a few months.
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