The killer-combo of great snow and money in boomtime Albertans’ pockets drove serveral resorts’ skier-visits to all-time records.

Last season approached epic nearly throughout the big arc of resorts within daytrip/weekending distance of Calgary — from Marmot Basin at Jasper in the north, via the Banff/Lake Louise, Golden and Invermere areas to Fernie in the south.

The region’s absolute growth in skier traffic proves ski resort development can be about expanding the overall pie, not just resorts cannibalizing market share. While B.C. has exploded from 1.5 million to six million skier-visits over the past 30 years, Alberta’s ski areas have also grown from 1.1 million skier-visits to 2.7 million with the Rockies region playing a major role.

Long before Wall Street’s meltdown in September, whiffs of economic unease were in the air last winter. The Canadian dollar’s climb drove down destination traffic. Real estate markets in southern Alberta — which also generate the core market of real estate buyers at all the resorts — showed signs of having crested. Ontario was in manufacturing meltdown. So it was fortuitous timing that most resorts found themselves in a phase of incremental improvement rather than gigantic capital investments. And that’s OK — for the Rockies region resorts have created a superb infrastructure. Their combined array of high-speed lifts, uphill capacity, terrain size and variety, accommodation, amenities and general service would be almost unrecognizable to past generations of skiers. Subtle touch-ups (glading and grooming) are mostly all that’s needed. One operating bucking the trend however is Kicking Horse.

Kicking Horse
Plans were unveiled at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort at Golden, B.C., for a transformative expansion aimed at catapulting it into Canada’s top tier of ski resorts. Its move, announced in August, amounts to a bellowing rejoinder to last year’s hype over Revelstoke Mountain Resort. It’s meant to accelerate the momentum of a mountain that has earned the respect of every hardcore skier who’s ever visited, and attracted a growing following from the Calgary area, but remains short of profitable mass-market presence.

“I’m jazzed — it’s a great rebirth of the resort,” said Steve Paccagnan, Kicking Horse’s president and GM, in an interview just before autumn. “A lot of things came together, there’s a lot of cool stuff going on.” Signing of the official master development agreement is expected in December — as is a feature detailing the expansion in the next issue of Ski Canada.

Norquay
The perfectly situated mountain just above Banff continues to service its unique market niche.

Last season Norquay opened its redesigned snowboard park under the tutelage of Jeff Patterson to “great reviews,” according to André Quenneville, Norquay’s general manager. The town mountain also received last-minute Parks Canada approval to widen Excalibur run to a continuous 40-metre-wide FIS standard.

“This made for a safe and up-to-standard race slope and a terrific fast cruising run,” says Quenneville. The slope was renamed “Give ‘er Grandi” in honour of local boy and World Cup racer Thomas Grandi.

This season, further tweaks to Norquay’s snowmaking system allow pre-weekend touch-ups of steeper sections. It has also built an introductory-level skiercross, and is now offering a network of snowshoeing trails with equipment available for rent. The company’s long-term plan for a major overhaul, which would include a new gondola and summer operations, remains at the vision stage with Parks Canada.

Sunshine village
Sunshine’s eight-decade journey has taken it from log-cabin way station to the best lift system in our resort lineup plus the only slopeside accommodation in the national parks. Thanks to plentiful snows, sunshine and Alberta’s ongoing growth, Sunshine last season racked up its largest-ever total of skier-visits. The mountain opens Nov. 7, weather permitting.

The biggest news is the completion of the hotel renovation. Last spring the resort razed the ’60s-vintage Terrace wing and launched construction of 30 new units plus the total overhaul of the 54 other units.

“The Sunshine Inn has been officially renamed the Sunshine Mountain Lodge,” says Doug Firby, Sunshine’s associate director of communications, media and marketing. “It’s a huge leap forward in environmental responsibility, including a 44 per cent reduction in electricity consumption, a 20 per cent reduction in water consumption, maximization of passive solar heating, with everything built to leading environmental standards, and all on the existing footprint.”

The $6-million investment is the second-largest in Sunshine’s history. New manager Bill Cutt’s mandate is to create a hotel experience comparable ot the region’s leading establishments, like the Post Hotel in Lake Louise. Construction continues, with opening planned for current season.

Nakiska
This cruiser/racer’s hill in outer Kananaskis Country had a great season, its eastern-style boulevards at times offering better powder than Lake Louise, thanks to upslope systems from Montana.

With its relatively fixed following and its location in a severely development-restricted provincial area, Nakiska will never be a hotbed of resort development. For this season, the Resorts of the Canadian Rockies — which operates Lake Louise, Fernie, Kimberley and Nakiska — expanded snowmaking coverage by 33 per cent, bringing total snowmaking to nearly 90 per cent of marked runs.

Also welcome will be the extensive day lodge reservations — including the Finish Line Lounge — and makeover of the mid-mountain lodge. Nakiska’s biggest news is its designation as an Alpine Canada training centre to help our skiers prepare for the 2010 Winter Olympics, thanks to backing from the Alberta government.

– Ski Canada is available on newsstands now. Check out the 2009 Buyer’s Guide, which features product news, highlights and more.