Nelson (BC), Canada – A new chairlift being built this summer at British Columbia’s Whitewater Ski Resort, near the Interior town of Nelson, will bring ski and snowboard terrain on the Backside in-bounds and boost the ski area’s vertical drop to over 2,000 feet.n“The mountain crew, in cooperation with mother nature, hope to have the lift ready to load as conditions permit this coming season” says Whitewater general manager, Brian Cusack.

The Dopplemayr triple chair has been purchased from Vail Mountain Resort in Colorado and is en route to Nelson, where it will be recommissioned as the Glory Ridge chairlift, Whitewater’s third. The British Columbia-based Summit Lift Company, headed by Randy Gliege, a 25-year veteran in the ski lift business, has been contracted to do the lift installation. His crew will consist of a mix between local and out-of-area, experienced ski industry workers.

The new C$1.5 million lift installation is an element in Whitewater’s Master Plan developed in 2002 and approved by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Arts (MTCA) in 2007. It will service the primarily west-facing Backside area, which was previously out-of-bounds sidecountry accessed from the resort’s Summit Lift with tracks leading back to the ski area’s access road. Whitewater’s goal for the summer is to have a good portion of the skiable terrain in the Backside area developed, creating a combination of eight selectively logged and gladed runs which will offer fall line skiing.

“We have our license to develop the ski runs and have selected Juggernaut Development Inc. to do the work,” explains Whitewater’s Outdoor Operations Manager, Kirk Jensen. “This summer we will focus mechanical harvesting on the area to the skier’s left of the chair with further gladed advanced/expert tree skiing developed to the skier’s right of the lift line. We plan to start on the lift line first to allow the lift installation crew access, and then proceed with the remainder over the summer.”

The clearing of the Backside area will be spread over two years and once complete, the Glory Ridge Chairlift will service a total of 749 acres (303 hectares) consisting of 18 gladed, treed and groomed runs of primarily intermediate and advanced/expert terrain. The expansion will effectively double the developed ski terrain at Whitewater and increase the ski area’s vertical drop from 1,309 to 2,042 feet.