Jumbo gets approval

Not everyone in the east Kootenays is against the project, it seems split down the middle.It would be interesting to know how many opponents to jumbo have perused the gigantic master plan, or been to the site itself. I can understand why some locals don't want it built, if they've been touring in the area maybe, but I would guess that very few of the "Jumbo Wild " supporters are ski tourers, and if they are they most likely toured at jumbo pass and not at the proposed ski hill.

I strongfully disagree.

I consider myself part of the Kootenays, I do a lot of ski touring, and not, I have never seen the site of the proposed Jumbo Ski Resort.

11 years ago Kicking Horse opened up with great promise... which little has come to fruition. Around the same time, new ownership took hold of Red, and has struggled to sustain itself. Revelstoke came into the mix a few years ago, and has also seen very little in return as far as their "master plan".

Overall, skier visits are down, ski resorts in this province are hurting based on the current model. Jumbo is not only doomed for failure, but it threatens the existence of the "ski resorts" it is to compete against. RK Heli WILL go under if this ski hill comes to be for example.

Bottom line: We do not need this ski hill, nor is the economy set up to have it succeed.

Environmental issues aside, this resort is still ridiculously stupid. I can't see how it could possibly be profitable when it will be catering to the same demographic as Revy, KH, Pano (aka Calgarians). I dont know about pano, but Revy and KH havent been able to sell much real estate to the same demographic (which is where all the money in ski resorts is) also, as of January, Red hadn't sold a single new property for an entire year! that gives you an example of what the high end real estate market is currently doing. Basically, the market is saturated and this project will fail. Unless they somehow build a large (bigger than cranbrook..) international airport within a couple hours, it just isn't conceivable that this project could succeed.

we have enough lift accessed ski areas, keep JUMBO WILD.

Honestly I don't think BC can support another big ski resort. I mean all these resorts catering to Calgarians and they just keep getting farther and farther away. I mean sure i'd definately ski here if it goes through, 5000 vertical lots of snow and nobody will be there so epic pow days. Sounds like its going to be a bit of a battle to get it done but hey I'd love to have somewhere only a few hours away where I could go skiing in the summer not going to lie. I won't care if it doesnt happen but if it does I'll definately take advantage of it.

Spot on! It’s very hip to be against development indeed. Capitalism doesn’t work!! All that jazz...

It’s funny that skiers are claiming to be against this project because the industry can’t support it. Unless you are an investor, why would you care? It’s not your money that could be lost. I haven’t done the NPV on this project but generally speaking, people don’t spend millions of dollars without looking into the return on their investment. As skiers, we are the people who will benefit. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Like the average skier claiming to be some hippy environmentalist doesn’t make sense to me. Skiing is not an environmentally friendly sport I don’t care how people try to justify it.  

the reason I care is because the ski "resort" industry in this province is already spread too thin. With a large majority of ski "resorts" struggling to stay afloat. The way I see it, adding another one to the mix will just make it even harder for the ones already in existence to succeed.

Say Jumbo actually gets built, but 5 years down the road KH just can't bring the crowds anymore due to loosing business to Jumbo... I enjoy having the ski resorts that are operational right now, and it would be very saddening to see one or more of them close down. Over saturating the market doesn't help things, it makes it worse.

We live in a world of wants and needs. Which of those two do you think this project falls under?

East Kootenays can have another resort. it doesn't snow there. 

This.

Plus building this resort will take tons of resources to build ie. building a highway into there (multi-million dollar project alone), flying lifts in and installing them...

all of which will be a complete waste when all the wildlife is scared away and the project inevitably fails. it makes way more sense to just leave the area alone so it can be enjoyed for what it is as people have been doing for the past 100 years... not every large, glaciated mountain needs lift accessed skiing on it.

I hear your argument, I just don’t think you know enough about the market to make it. Can you say for certain if Jumbo goes through it will close down KH? That sounds like a ton of speculation on your part.

Wants / needs? Sure we don’t NEED another resort, I get that. But do you think that skiing in general is a want or a need? Let’s look at the bigger picture globally – skiing is a WANT sport, not one needs to ski.

I hear ya man, but I like to think that nowadays we live in a more enlightened and aware time. Global development exploded in the 1800's and through the 1900's and now we are aware of the impact our history has had on this planet, so why not try and repair the damage we've already done rather than add to it? The desire to expand and develop more just doesn't make sense in my mind.

you are right, I am speculating. I'm pretty sure no one can predict the future. I am done discussing this on the internet.

as far as your comment about skiing being a want sport. We're kind of getting into some shit you'd have a debate about in university or something.

Sports in general can be looked at as a want, not a need, not just skiing. Or can they? Humans without sports wouldn't be humans, especially skiing because it also can be argued to fall into the "arts" category. You can't have a human without expression, and you can't fight evolution (or progression I guess it's called). Skiing (and all sports) happened organically from the human mind, chairlifts and hotels are the byproduct of that. The kicker is that skiing can exist without the chairlift and especially without the fancy hotels, but I ask you - can we exist without skiing?

Good discussion and points boys.

Humans base their actions on what is profitable for themselves. That’s capitalism and in my opinion it will never and can never change. It’s a dog eat dog world. You can live your life without agreeing with that philosophy as I do but (again, in my opinion) you can't ignore that it's always going to be that way.

So to answer your question Drail: I agree with you that humans couldn’t live without skiing. We disagree that skiing could exist without the chairlifts and fancy hotels.

We can leave it at agree to disagree.