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Save a Marmot! The cute and cuddly Vancouver Island Marmot is one of North Americas most endangered species. It makes it's home in the surrounding meadows of Mt. Washington Alpine Resort and various other mountainous areas of Vancouver Island. It is a unique species that s found nowhere else in the world. In an effort to give something back to the environment which provides us with our joyous lifestyle, Section 8 Snowsport Institute has decided to donate a small portion of tuition fees for our 2011 Ski and snowboard instructor training programs to the the Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Foundation. We encourage their efforts to repopulate this amazing local creature and save it from extinction. To find out more about the marmot click here.
Summer on the Slopes - June 24th 2010 Summer Skiing on Vancouver Island?! Well on a normal year, if your earning your turns you might be able to still squeeze in some high alpine late corn shredding in June... but for the first time ever Mount Washington resort opened it's lift accessed slopes (well one slope anyways) on the first weekend of summer. Thanks to having one giant snowpack this season (reports say Mount Washington had the deepest in the world for a good part of the 2010 winter), the snow stuck around and 1700 skiers and snowboarders turned up to tackle the mountain. Ski bikini's were out in full force. It was a bizarre sight that capped off a hugely successful season for the mountain. Earlier in the year Mount Washington hosted 16 different Olympic and Paralympic national teams on both it's alpine slopes and cross country trails for training prior to the Vancouver Games and also experienced the second deepest snowfall in it's 32 year history. The mountain is now furiousy trying to dig out the remainder of their mountain bike trails for the rest of the summer season.
November 11th, 2009 Mountain opening in November this year... great early start. Looking forward to a good season!
News articles about Olympic athletes coming to train at Mount Washington this coming winter season. - August 12th, 2009 The Vancouver Sun - 2009/08/07 The Victoria Times - 2009/08/07
What New at Mount Washington This Season? - October 18, 2008 Celebrating it's 30th anniversary this year, Mount Washington is introducing the "Goodtime Glades" This will provide perfectly spaced and some even groomed tree skiing. This will be a forgiving way for ski and snowboard instructors to inspire confidence and introduce their clients to tree skiing and riding and is a much needed progression. The Stomping Ground Terrain Park is expanding it's arsenal of stunts for the third year in a row. Skiers and boarders can expect to see new flat, down flat, multi-drop, and battleship boxes added to the litany of man made stunts in the popular advanced level terrain park for winter 08/09. The 2010 Olympics are fast approaching and Mount Washington has established itself as an ideal pre-Olympic training site for a multitude of international teams. The Canadian, American, Swiss, And Swedish snowboard race teams will be training on the upper slopes of the mountain. On the Nordic side, the Swedish cross country and biathlon teams will be training at the Raven Lodge alongside the German Biathlon team. If your looking for great events this winter, the resort provides non-stop festival and competition action. Highlights include the International Paralympic Committee World Cup for XC and Biathlon from March 11th - 14th and the King of the Hill Terrain Park series returns for it's third installation of big air and even bigger tricks, beginning with the Brick Rail Jam in January 2009. Snow Conditions permitting, the resort plans to open December 5th.
Olympic Teams on their way to Mount Washington. - March 12th, 2008 The Swedish Olympic committee has confirmed it's decision to have their cross country and biathlon teams call Mount Washington home in preparation for the 2010 Olympics. Thanks to the world class nordic facilities here at Mt. Washington as well as weather and snow conditions similar to those of the actual Olympic venues near Whistler, teams from many other countries are expected to follow suit. What has come as a surprise is that Sweden is now looking at using the mountains alpine skiing facilities and having their freestyle and snowboard teams train here as well.
Bring On The Powder! - Dec 21st, 2007 Once again Mt. Washington Alpine Resort is having great start to the season. With another metre of snow in the past week Mt Washington regains it's frequent title of having one of the deepest all natural snow bases in North America. It appears La-Nina, Mother Nature's snow making machine is calling the mountains of Vancouver Island home for the next few months so we can expect more of the deep stuff!
Revelstoke Mountain Resort - Dec 06 I just got back from a short trip to Revelstoke to check out the to be ski hill. Right now there's a dinky, family style hill. By next season there will be a 5000' vertical ski hill with a gondola and quad chair accessing former cat skiing terrain. The hill is being built by a US real estate developer and two money bags from Toronto. Former Whistlerite Paul "Bones" Skelton is involved as well. The development is heavily real estate driven with tons of condos, townhouses and homesites planned for the base area. But no worries, the skiing is going to be just as heavy. The area gets tons of snow, 12' in Revi town this winter, and the vertical is massive. eventually, with one or two more lifts the hill will have the highest vertical in North America, fourth highest in the world. The lift accessed backcountry is going to be almost limitless and like I said the snow is sick. Remember this is heli-ski central already. We did a day of sled assisted skiing on the ski hill and hit some awesome lines. There's some nice open alpine terrain and plenty of tree skiing. There isn't the big open bowls of Whistler or Lake Louise, but the mountain is immense. Right now the upper part is cat skiing terrain and nearby is heli-ski terrain. The hill bought both, so from one base you'll be able to go cat skiing and heli skiing. In fact, they plan to offer mid-day heli trips. So, when the pow is tracked up you can sign up for a couple heli runs. The hill is going to be well worth a road trip next winter. Guaranteed quiet runs for a couple years I would think. Section 8 ski and snowboard instructor courses, mountain safety and leadership training |
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