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
'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
'My family doctor just fired me': Ontario patients frustrated with de-rostering
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
Ottawa pizzeria places among top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world at international competition
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Canada Post cracks down on Nunavut loophole to get free Amazon Prime shipping
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
Wildfire near Fort McMurray more than triples overnight, several evacuation alerts remain in place
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Putin replaces Russian defence minister in rare cabinet shakeup
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Man fatally 'slashed in the neck' in downtown Toronto, suspect outstanding
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
WATCH Dashcam video shows terrifying near-miss on two-lane northern Ontario highway
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Edibles, armchairs and adapters: Here are the recalls for this week
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.