The provincial government's approval of the Jumbo Glacier Resort master plan this week will pave the way for establishment of a similar resort near Valemount, according to a resort designer involved in both projects.
Oberto Oberti of Vancouver-based Oberti Architecture and Urban Design Inc. will be hosting a delegation this week from a French company that's one of the largest resort developers in the world and has set its sights on North America.
They're coming to B.C. to see the site for Jumbo, in the Purcell Mountains 57 kilometres west of Invermere, but will also tour the Valemount proposal.
"They selected glacier-based, year-round ski destinations as being the thing of the future and for them to be able to do two projects would be a plus because for international companies these projects are a little bit small and they hardly justify the cost of their overhead," Oberti said.
Jumbo Glacier won government backing last week after 22 years of numerous studies, assessments, consultations and resistance from First Nations and environmental groups every step of the way.
There are a few steps yet for the Valemount proposal.
Known as Valemount Glacier Destination, the goal is to establish an alpine resort in the area of Mount Arthur Meighen and Mount Pierre Trudeau, just west of the village of 1,100 people 285 kilometres east of Prince George.
An expression of interest was submitted in December and the provincial government has since invited the proponent, Valemount Glacier Destinations Ltd., to provide a formal proposal and Oberti expects an interim agreement will be signed next month.
Oberti was also involved in the Kicking Horse Resort near Golden which was initiated well after Jumbo was started and won approval much more quickly.
"Government staff was really able to manage that process much more successfully so I hope that Valemount will be much more like Kicking Horse," Oberti said and added it's possible both Valemount and Jumbo will open by Christmas 2014 with construction to start by spring 2014.
"The two projects are similar but also different," Oberti said. "The one in Valemount perhaps has a climate that is a little bit more severe, but it also has a bigger vertical drop."
According to the expression of interest, Valemount Glacier Destination would offer the world's largest patrolled vertical drop at 2,400 metres (7,818 feet). Jumbo, in contrast, talks of 1,175 metres (5,626 feet) for its longest run.
Valemount Ski Society director Joe Nusse offered a similar view to Oberti's.
"From the very beginning it was made clear by both the proponent and the province that the Valemount development was in no way a replacement for the Jumbo," Nusse said. "If anything, it was meant to complement it in that building them both would just make it so that you have two world-class resorts in a part of the world that's indisputably the best skiing in the world which is currently only opened up to helicopter skiing."
With a full view of Mount Robson, the Valemount development will have a bigger emphasis on year-round sightseeing while Jumbo is being developed mainly on its skiing merits, Nusse added.
