Uphill climb for Mount Agassiz
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $15.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
Subscribe Nowor call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Brandon Sun access to your Free Press subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $20.00 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.00 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/09/2014 (4210 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The long road to create a new ski hill operation at Mount Agassiz in Riding Mountain National Park has hit yet another impasse.
On Friday, Parks Canada rejected a $4.5-million proposal by the Agassiz Mountain Resort Development Group — the sole respondent to a request for proposals to redevelop the site — to rebuild a ski resort on the site, which has lain dormant for 14 years.
Kelly Rose, who manages the group, said the proposal was rejected on the basis that it failed to meet park criteria for accessing water to create snow — and was also rejected on a financial basis.
Unless Parks Canada decides to either work with the group to improve its proposal or tone down its complicated criteria for proposals and run the RFP process anew, it would seem that the ski hill dream may be lost. And with it future financial prospects for hotel operators and businesses in the nearby community of McCreary, which stand to benefit if a new ski hill were constructed at the site.
The largest problem that has stymied enthusiasm for the ski hill has always been economic, especially given the fact that Manitoba already has a flourishing ski resort at Asessippi.
Coincidentally, the Asessippi Ski Hill and Family Winter Park opened for the first time on Boxing Day, 1999, and since Agassiz’s demise, Asessippi has flourished. Following the 1999-2000 winter season, the former owners of the Agassiz Ski Resort were forced to declare bankruptcy after a disasterous warm-weather season that had been dubbed a “season from hell” by then-Agassiz Ski Resort manager Hersh Lerner.
The existence of Asessippi has remained a sore spot for proponents of Agassiz and residents in McCreary who believe that Riding Mountain would attract more people from Winnipeg due to the shorter traveling time.
There’s also the Mount Agassiz Feasibility Study, released in January 2012, which said reopening the ski hill was not likely financially viable because of limited markets, competition from existing ski hills and high capital and operating costs. Since that report came out, WestJet created a direct commercial flight between Brandon and Calgary, which is just a stone’s throw away from some of the best skiing in the country.
Though Riding Mountain National Park Supt. Michaele Kent said the park still wants to see Mount Agassiz “reach its potential,” from an outsider’s perspective, it would appear that Parks Canada has little reason to place a large priority on the ski hill’s resurgence.
This is unfortunate for McCreary, but perhaps not unexpected, given the economic mountain the venture needs to climb.