BOW VALLEY – Banff National Park’s three ski resorts are supporting Jasper’s wildfire recovery with $41,721 raised during the SkiBig3 Community Ski Days last month.
SkiBig3 president Pete Woods said it was important to help their fellow national park, which is also home to Marmot Basin ski resort.
“We have a close relationship with the team at Marmot and work with them on the mountain collective pass and other collaborations that we do together, and there's obviously close connection between the resorts as well as the communities of Banff and Jasper,” Woods said.
Hosted by Banff Sunshine, Mt. Norquay and Lake Louise ski resorts, Community Ski Days offered discounted lift tickets while giving 100 per cent of the proceeds to .
“All the resort owners were really pleased to support Jasper,” Woods said. “[It was] just such a horrific event for everybody, and we're close to it, and there's such strong connections between the two communities, so we're really pleased to be able to help support it.”
Community Ski Days is held to encourage locals and new residents of the Bow Valley to experience one, two or all the SkiBig3 resorts – reduced lift tickets making skiing and snowboarding more accessible – while giving back to the surrounding community.
“Sometimes people have a pass or some other type of discount product to one mountain, but not necessarily all three, so this gives them a chance to experience the other mountains,” Woods said.
Located within the protected boundaries of Banff National Park, the three ski resorts offer 7,748 acres of terrain and up to nine metres of snow annually.
Although Banff and Lake Louise are bracing for more visitors as Jasper rebuilds, Woods said he wasn’t aware of the Bow Valley's ski resorts seeing any additional traffic as a result.
“We're definitely seeing good visitation, although it kind of came in a little bit later this year, meaning closer to the holiday time period,” Woods said. “But yeah, I haven't seen any indication that it's because Jasper can't host or their perception of not being able to take care of visitors.”
Marmot Basin, which was spared from the wildfire, is currently open in Jasper National Park. Visitors are encouraged to come during weekdays and book in advance due to a shortage of hotel rooms.
