Castle Mountain Resort improvements underway, more than $1.5M invested to enhance ski experience
A southern Alberta ski resort is not letting summer go to waste. Castle Mountain Resort is adding more snow making equipment, upgrading one of its lifts and making improvements to the day lodge and cat skiing equipment.
The investment of more than $1.5 million comes following a ski season that forced many resorts to get creative in order to keep operating during the pandemic.
“We are reinvesting every single dime that we made this past season and then some,” said Caslt Mountain Resort sales and marketing manager Cole Fawcett.
With the hot summer and dry conditions, it may seem hard to believe but the ski season is just three-and-a-half months away.
Work is underway on several major upgrades to both indoor and outdoor spaces.
The biggest project is a $1.1 million investment in snow making equipment and infrastructure.
“I don’t think its any secret that Mother Nature sometimes needs a little help,” said Fawcett.
He added snow making equipment is vitally important at the beginning of the season, and helps to ensure there is great snow coverage through the important Christmas holiday season.
“In the face of a changing climate and uncertain weather patterns, we need to have snow making infrastructure,” said Fawcett.
Castle Mountain Resort initially invested in snow making equipment in 2019.
It helped to extend the ski season from about 115 days to 132 days last year. Work being done this summer will add underground electrical and water pipeline infrastructure to allow for better snow coverage and earlier access to and from the main mountain.
Additionally, a second snow making pump and snow making machines will be added, which will more than double the amount of snow that can be made at any given time. Fawcett said the improvements will allow more terrain to be accessible in the early season, and provide better snow coverage throughout the year.
The resort posted a picture of snow at the top of the Tamarack (Red) Chair on its Facebook page Tuesday.
Other projects include new flooring on the day lodge, replacing the drive unit on the Tamarack (Red) Chair and upgrading Castle’s Powder Stagecoach cat skiing operation.
A new, 13-passenger cabin, made by Metal Form Industries Inc. of Innisfail, will be paired with a purposed snowcat from the resorts snow grooming fleet.
The new cabin will feature comforts that weren’t available before, and increase the reliability of the cat skiing operation, helping to minimize the amount of down days due to mechanical issues.
“We’re proud to be reinvesting in the experience of our guests” said Jason Crawford, director of mountain operations.
With many activities unavailable last winter due to pandemic restrictions many ski resorts saw a boost in attendance and attracted families that hadn’t visited a ski hill in years.
“What we are looking forward to is trying to maintain some of those visitors, trying to keep them,” said Fawcett.
‘We would love to see families continue to ski in a non-pandemic period.”
Castle Mountain Resort is scheduled to open for the season on Friday, Dec. 3. A limited number of season passes remain available with reduced rates in effect until Sept. 30.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.