Whistler Terrain Expansion

[PaulB]

Got this in an email from Intrawest today. The long rumoured expansion around Flute is finally happening:

 

The big is getting bigger. Whistler Blackcomb introduces 1100 acres of new terrain on Whistler Mountain with the official opening of the long-awaited west side of Whistler, Peak to Creek, and the addition of Flute Bowl, offering a unique in-bounds backcountry experience. The new areas comprise Whistler Mountain's single largest terrain expansion ever.

[stinkyclimber]

"The new areas comprise Whistler Mountain's single largest terrain expansion ever. "

 

And yet another HUGE, disgusting, high-impact incursion into a Class A Provincial Park. Why do they even bother with the pretense of those park boundaries? Fuck it..why don't they just put a lift up Fissle, and commercial huts around the Spearheads, with snomobile and fly-in support, and hot tubs and satellite TV. Just get it over with and finish the job of pushing the Park out of the Fitzsimmons Ck drainage. Bastards.

 

Garibaldi holds a special place in my heart. Lots of great adventures and special places. Sacrificed on the alter of greed and sloth. In my opinion anyway...

 

Thanks, Paul, for passing the news on, sad may it be.

[stinkyclimber]

Here is the link to the press release, with photos, etc.

[ashw_justin]

Yes, the behemoth swells. I wonder if we get to fund the expansion with higher ticket prices... The place is already so big you can't really exhaust all the runs on any given day. I'd be a lot happier if I could just pay for rides on my two favorite chairs on Blackcomb instead of paying one huge price for the bijillion other lifts I'll never set ass on.

[gapertimmy]

offering a unique in-bounds backcountry experience.

 

SICK, sounds like silverton!

[Fejas]

Might as well get it done now wile they are doing the rest of all their expantions(roads,town,mountain)... 2010 winter games yo! & blackcomb already has a collection of non groomed, designated, tree runs... They are the largest ski resort in north america with room to expand, you guys think they'll stop at this new expantion... yeah right.

[snoboy]

One positive point is that I believe they actually traded a little bit of valley bottom for the little bit of alpine ridge that they got. This is a good thing, as much of our provincial parks are simply rocks and snow.

 

I doubt that this is going to be anything like Silverton, Flute bowl is almost in bounds any ways and sees a lot of skier traffic already. Really they are just looking after runs that they already provide access too, probably at the advice of their lawyers.

 

I thought that the original plans were for a new lift in Flute Bowl, and am puzzled at why they ixnayed that??? Perhaps they are trying to create a sort of buffer zone of controlled hiking?

 

ashw_justin said:

 

The place is already so big you can't really exhaust all the runs on any given day.

 

Sure, but the number of skiers that they have up there on a given day can sure make a mess of all the runs in a day.

 

A large chunk of this expansion is the Peak to Creek runs. These were cut several years ago, just before Intrawest bought Whistler Mountain, and were never officially opened. To call this the largest expansion is true in a way, but also a lot of marketing hype. It's not like they are cutting any new runs or putting in any new chairs. :rolleye:

 

stinkyclimber said:

 

Garibaldi holds a special place in my heart. Lots of great adventures and special places. Sacrificed on the alter of greed and sloth. In my opinion anyway...

 

 

I think Garabaldi Park is under a ton of pressure. The snowmobile clubs would love to get in there, the heli skiers are in there already, the Air Tours (Whistler or Glacier - can't remember) land illegaly in the park, there is heavy usage of a lot of the frontcountry areas, and poaching by snogos, mountain bikes, and dog walkers. It is a large park in easy distance from a major urban centre, and has to endure a lot of use and abuse. Then there is the little chunks that get carved off every once in a whil eto expand the ski areas...

 

I doubt that Whistler will go much further in to the park, but Blackcomb has a ton of good terrain out there. All they would need to do is redraw the Blackcomb Glacier Park boundaries.

[murraysovereign]

My grandfather was a member of the group that worked to have Garibladi Park established, and I'm not sure what he would think of the subsequent development. I know that in the later case of Silver Star Mountain in Vernon he worked first to have it declared a provincial park, and then worked to have it reclassified as a Recreation Area specifically so that development could occur. The idea that parks should be preserved in amber, with no facilities provided at all, was never his intention.

 

That said, the scale of what's been built at Whistler would probably give him pause. I wish I had his old journals and files and such to see what the original intent of the group was. They must be around somewhere, but I don't know where to start looking.

 

And for what it's worth, the people at BC Parks that I've spoken with feel the land swap with Intrawest has been a net gain for the park. The land that Intrawest has had to cede to the park in exchange for the Flute boundary change is ecologically more valuable than the land Intrawest gains access to. And Snoboy's right - this area is already heavily used, so it's not like Whistler is intruding into wilderness. They're really just taking formal control of, and assuming responsibility for, an area that's already de facto part of the ski resort.

 

I agree we don't want to see Garibaldi Park being cut up and given away, but we need to choose our battles and this instance is really just recognition of long-existing reality in that area.

[iain]

Whistler will never compete with the likes of Mt. Hood Meadows after they chairlift the hell out of da Hood. Meadows is and will remain THE destination resort on the entire west coast mofos. Bow down and pay homage to the sickness that is meadows. Expand all you want, meadows will expand more to harvest even more of Hoodie's legendary champagne powder.

 

EXPANSION SUCKS

[stinkyclimber]

thanks snoboy and murray for more background on this. Actually, I calmed down somewhat after I reread their overhyped announcements and realized that they were only moving the boundary over to Flute, not actually putting in a new lift, which is how I originally read it (although I suspect that is in someone's wish list too!).

 

I agree definately this is not a battle worth fighting, but only because that area is already de facto in bounds. I am not sure if I see it as much of a net gain to the Park, though.

 

Sure the valley bottom is much more ecologically important, but realistically, what could really be done to that area?

 

They weren't ever going to log it and further screw up their viewshed. I suppose they could have put in some sort of development, but I bet the soil stability issues there would have nixed that. Not every bit of valuable ecosystem needs to be, or should be, in a Park to be protected....that is the whole problem with that stupid 12% solution of a few years back - it encourages the view that only that land formally protected actually should be protected. Common sense should be enough to protect areas like the undeveloped areas of Fitzsimmons Ck without the need for Park protection.

 

Interesting to hear about your grandfather's experiences.

[thelawgoddess]

I'd be a lot happier if I could just pay for rides on my two favorite chairs on Blackcomb instead of paying one huge price for the bijillion other lifts I'll never set ass on.

 

well, with the expansion of whistler hopefully more people will go there instead.

[snoboy]

Isn't there a hill or two that have some sort of punch card/prepaid lift pass, that you scan each time you ride the lift??? That way you can ride as much or as little as you want. Sounds good to me.

[gapertimmy]

that is the rides/points concept we use here at bachy. it requires data collection points all around the mountain (either network connections and or smart devices or PDA scanners and labor), which in Whistler's case would be pretty expensive... but yes it is a fantastic program which is especially good at hills with weather issues.

[Gaper_Jeffy]

that you scan each time you ride the lift

 

Bachy's sucks your ticket it in then spits it out so it smacks you in the face. Quite novel indeed.