This week in Canada.

[ironhippy]

Unrelated, other than "castanet", but nice vernon article on a fairly sizeable mtb trail system being added in the vernon/coldstream area. Vernon is shaping up really nice for a primo mtb destination

I spent a day riding my bike around Kalamalka Lake Park and I felt like I just barely scratched the surface of that one area. So many trails.

[el hefe]

I spent a day riding my bike around Kalamalka Lake Park and I felt like I just barely scratched the surface of that one area. So many trails.

The new trails mentioned on the castanet article will have incredible views of the entire valley looking south and west including Ok and Kal lakes. Will be a fun urban ski area as well when we get enough snow in town.

[grinch]

I spent a day riding my bike around Kalamalka Lake Park and I felt like I just barely scratched the surface of that one area. So many trails.

Good one! I like Kal park trails. Vernon riding covers a lot of bases from tech, steep, rock slab to silverstar flowy jump trails and even some sub alpine. I used to park my rv at silverstar camping lot for a month or 2 at a time. It was like a party every weekend and super chill weekday laps or exploring Kal and sovereign trails

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[XXX-er]

Unrelated, other than "castanet", but nice vernon article on a fairly sizeable mtb trail system being added in the vernon/coldstream area. Vernon is shaping up really nice for a primo mtb destination

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Yeah I think there is also lift assisted riding up on Silver star ?

mtn biking is happening everywhere in BC cuz the gov appears to be throing money at trail building, places you woudln't think like Mackenzie, old Hazelton, kitimaat

[XXX-er]

RSTBC over the last year have had greatly increased budgets. For the first summer in forever, many rec districts got summer works crews to do some much needed work to the infrastructure. Add to that the rec officers finally got their job classification review completed and got a bump to the next classification - retroactive to the start of the request, which was close to a decade or so ago. So the rec officers are feeling good about themselves at the moment. We’ll see how the transition to the new ministry goes (they are with the same ministry as prov parks staff now - another chronically underfunded agency).

A ski/ bike buddy I think a water guy told me it takes 3 days worth of administrivia to transfer from 1 ministry to another

[grinch]

Yeah I think there is also lift assisted riding up on Silver star ?

mtn biking is happening everywhere in BC cuz the gov appears to be throing money at trail building, places you woudln't think like Mackenzie, old Hazelton, kitimaat

Ys it hard to describe to people that live a ways from BC. Pretty much every little rinky dink town has some of the best trails you could dream of riding, especially ok, sea to sky and columbia basin
Silverstar has ran the lifts for years. A great time for absolutely all levels. They have green trails that are fun for anyone. If a person wants to learn how to jump, thats the place. Spend a mid week there and you'll come away with a new set of skillz. Bounce between vernon and revy and houll have the best in the world of any possible segment

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[LHutz Esq]

I did a 9 month stint in government right out of uni.

I had 4 different business cards as we went through the alphabet cannon. Never moved desks, but was assigned to 4 different ministries.

They then offered a payout for anyone that wanted to leave- my had was in the air so fast I almost dislocated my shoulder

[XXX-er]

I worked for and was friends with the owner of Ymir until about 10 years ago, and that was a debacle set in motion a long time ago which just happened to come to a head now. I don’t have any insight into the Snowy situation. However, as someone who deals with RSTBC authorizations (for trails and cabins) on a regular basis, I’m seeing new enthusiasm for enforcement. Local Rec officers have an unusual amount of discretion in these matters, so it’s difficult to know the extent of high level direction or policy change, but this year was the first time RSTBC has come down hard on a group of illegal trail builders, so it’s possible we’re seeing some real change.

a very prolific BC skier who sometimes posts here told me ephaticaly " you do not ever want to build anything illegal in the BC " after his dealings with gov and i think he was just trying to hide an old camper in the BC about 10 yr ago

but really a lot of that bike shit that got built back in the day was shit, they had SMBA get rid of some old stuff that didnt meet standards so a few people got their shorts twisted up but hey but the gov is gona give us a bunch of $$$$$$ in grants if we play nice

think perhaps back it the day you could get away with alot but nowdays those CO's are out there skiiing and biking sleding so they know what's up which maybe was not the case 25yrs ago or maybe they didnt bother ??

[BCMtnHound]

A ski/ bike buddy I think a water guy told me it takes 3 days worth of administrivia to transfer from 1 ministry to another

I did a 9 month stint in government right out of uni.

I had 4 different business cards as we went through the alphabet cannon. Never moved desks, but was assigned to 4 different ministries.

They then offered a payout for anyone that wanted to leave- my had was in the air so fast I almost dislocated my shoulder

Heh, the cost to change just the letterhead on the docs, let alone all the letters for the legislated authorities of the senior bureaucrats, is staggering. Thankfully, most of the position transfers under the latest re-org will not involve physical movement of staff, at least in the short term. I have other opinions about the latest shuffle, but will refrain from posting them in a public forum

Oh, and I gave up on business cards in govt a long time ago. Give me your card or contact info, I’ll shoot you a communication. Much simpler and helps keep the riffraff out of the inbox.

[XXX-er]

Ys it hard to describe to people that live a ways from BC. Pretty much every little rinky dink town has some of the best trails you could dream of riding, especially ok, sea to sky and columbia basin
Silverstar has ran the lifts for years. A great time for absolutely all levels. They have green trails that are fun for anyone. If a person wants to learn how to jump, thats the place. Spend a mid week there and you'll come away with a new set of skillz. Bounce between vernon and revy and houll have the best in the world of any possible segment

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yeah you ^^ might as well try to explain the E-bike situation up here to them

no body has even mentioned Kamloops yet lift riding for > 20 yrs and with the terain you can put a trail just about anywhere, a lot of trails in around kamloops a pretty serious shop guy I know told me he has been riding Kamy for years and very sunday he rides a trail he never been on befroe

[grinch]

yeah you ^^ might as well try to explain the E-bike situation up here to them

no body has even mentioned Kamloops yet lift riding for > 20 yrs and with the terain you can put a trail just about anywhere, a lot of trails in around kamloops a pretty serious shop guy I know told me he has been riding Kamy for years and very sunday he rides a trail he never been on befroe

Amazing! Kamloops is another uniqely good zone. Bike park lifts are a bit of a drive though, but very good.
Revy has the quality/convenience ratio wrapped up. Not very busy, tons of variety and a crazy good park , right in town, that went from nothing to massive seemingly over night

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[XXX-er]

actualy Revy had a ski hill way back in the day like in the 70's

Valemont has a really good bike area and a really fine brewery

[Ted Striker]

I'll take the dirt & climate of Revy 10/10 over fruit loops.

[grinch]

^^this
Several friends have commented how much they liked valemont bike park. I think its just shuttles but sounds like its well built. Maybe thats the future. Lots of land has been scooped up in anticipation i hear

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[XXX-er]

yeah the Valemont bike area is well designed with a good road going to the top so its good for shuttles and i think they run them on weekends but of course with an e-bike I didnt need to shuttle

I am not so sure about the possibilities of a ski hill in valemont I think its just too far from air travel

I never made it to bike Revy

[grinch]

Id be more than ok with a modest ski hill in valemont i think.
Revy is a must visit for biking, especially emtb. The non bike park trails and the bike park. Its one bike park that really opens up options with an emtb. Above the gondi there is a fair bit worth riding and there's a bunch of out of bounds stuff emptying out below the resort. Its generally very user friendly and a lot more so with an emtb. It takes a good solid week to get a small sample all the local trail flavors around town. More time if sol mountain is added into the trip and thats an alpine/backcountry emtb dream zone

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[BCMtnHound]

Id be more than ok with a modest ski hill in valemont i think.

There was an article in the Goat back in late 2020 that the village was trying to build at least a T-Bar within the proposed resort area to get at least something for the community started. Never heard another thing about it. The Simpcw First Nation is a big partner in the mtb trails there, and have done well with their involvement with the TMX; I wonder if they have plans to work with the community on a new ski hill proposal….

[XXX-er]

I think valemont is just too far from airports and you gotta drive past too many existing ski hills to get there

[BCMtnHound]

Agreed. This is to attract and support locals at the scale they are talking.
And when backcountry conditions go foul, provide an alternate venue option for the visiting winter adventurer.
Hard part for Valemount is maintaining critical mass to keep let alone expand on the services the town provides. Even a t-bar with consistent annual snowpack is worth it even if revenue neutral from mostly local passes IMO.
More local skiing is good skiing. I still consider part time retirement in the Robson. Wells was near the top of the list, but that new mine might have screwed the realestate prospects.

[grinch]

I know some people that bought land there when it was cheap after the first talk of a resort. I think FN has bought up a bunch of ths land as well. I think something will hapoen, its jyst when. Visitors will go. People said revy wouldnt wofk because it was too far from a major population base. Still it is a little farther out there but whats a couole extra hours when tge snows that good

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[XXX-er]

I've been all over those areas in shitty weather for work, I think Revy is close enough to the Okanagan or Alberta and a lot of skier, its also right on hy 1 , Valemont not so much and all those other area's are already there, so would you go to Revy or Valemont when there are so many other options, maybe too many other options ?

a now-local couple looked really hard at moving from Bend to BC and settled on Smithers, the wife wanted Valemont but hubby did the veto cuz he thot Valemont is just too small




A long time resident of Mcbride I trust told me the land was getting bought up by the Guggenhiem foundation, she didnt know why but she thot it was messing with RE for average people wanting to farm or own land

I skied Osalinka hut out of Mcbride and Dave Henry out of valemont, I duno if they still run they were both staples for the PG BC skier with shitty tele gear back in the day

[Ted Striker]

I think valemont is just too far from airports and you gotta drive past too many existing ski hills to get there

Yeah, that's literally what I said in the thread years ago, and nothing has changed since.

[grinch]

Sledders seem to have no problem getting up that way. When i rolled thru both valemont and mcbride had sledders all over town

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[XXX-er]

most of them come from Mordor, AKA Alberta

But seriously you couldn't get much different than sledding and resort skiing, sleds don't need an airport, they don't need ski lifts,

they will drive very long distances in big trucks to braaap and stay in a cheap motel

really the only common thing is that they are both winter sports

[garyfromterrace]

...they are both winter sports

"There are but three true sports--bullfighting, mountain climbing, and motor-racing. The rest are merely games."

Cody Townsend