The 2010-2011 ski season at Kimberley is shaping up to be spectacular! During the last few months, the finishing touches have been put on a number of projects at Kimberley Alpine Resort and everything will be ready to go by the time the first snowflake hits the slopes.

North America’s largest gladed ski terrain, including the infamous Black Forest has been enhanced, in the largest glading project in Canada. You will see two new glades, one between Windfall and Tramway and the other between Twist and Geneva. So look for more accessible, skiable terrain in the resort’s gladed areas. More terrain = more fun!

Trickle Creek Lodge has had a fresh new coat of paint on the exterior and every suite has a new flat-screen TV and new bed linens to tuck into after a day on the slopes.

The night skiing pass which made its sparkling debut last season has a new name -– the Nightrider Pass. This was so popular last year that it inspired an evening rail jam series that was a big attraction for youth. It looks like it just may be a permanent fixture, so all you skiers and snowboarders — get ready to enjoy unlimited fun on North America’s longest night skiing trail! This is a great way for families too to spend an evening together in a positive environment.

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Edmonton nurse Erin Adams, 33, and brother Craig, 31, bought a two-bedroom penthouse condo for $425,000 at Mountain Spirit Resort & Spa in Kimberley, B.C., while it was still in the pre-construction phase in 2007.

Similar penthouse condos are currently selling from $574,900.

Erin is pleased from both an investment and recreation standpoint.

Since completion last fall, she has taken friends and her retriever Sprout there on many a mountain getaway. It’s a seven-hour drive from Edmonton — a manageable trip whenever she has more than a couple of days off work.

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Kimberley and area offers 5 great golf courses within a 20 minutes drive for your playing enjoyment.

Bootleg Gap is my favourite course for value in Kimberley. This Les Furber design offers the 18 hole championship course and a 9 hole course that you can play after your 18 for only $19. The rates for 18 holes are $49 plus cart during the week and $59 on weekends. This course offers some stunning holes with mountain and valley views and is a definite must play on your next vacation. I like to play it twice on my trips and usually book one round twilight for $49 on the weekends and a second round for $39 during the week.  This is definitely a tough course to walk so you will most likely want to get a power cart which will cost you an extra $32 for 18 holes and $16 for 9. The course also offers a great practice range to hit some balls before the game (practice range is not included in your green fees). Bootleg gap is now accepting tee times and is scheduled to open April 16th. Book your tee time here.

Kimberley Golf Club is the oldest course in the area and has been around since 1924. It offers 18 holes of golf and is another great value course that I put on my list to play every year.  9 holes will cost you $26 and 18 is $50. This course is manageable to walk but if you are like me and love to be on a cart, the cart is $19 for 9 holes and $32 for 18. They do not offer a great practice range but it is good enough to get in a few strikes before the round (practice range balls are not included in green fees). Twilight golf is after 4:30pm and costs $36 for 18. The course winds through the towering (and I mean large trees!!) ponersoa pines high above the St. Mary’s river and presents some great birdie opportunities in the opening holes. Scenes of the Rockies and Purcell mountain ranges continually come into view creating magnificent backdrops. Although the course is not as well manicured as some of the other courses in the region, this a great golf course and well laid out to offer a challenge every round. Book your tee times here.

Trickle Creek Golf Course has been named one of Canada’s top ten courses and you can see why with the magnificent views and challenging fairways that keeps golfers coming back year after year. What better place to stay than where you can see the course from your hot tub and rear deck!!  I can only say my favourite hobby in the summer is smoking a cigar while sitting the hot tub or barbecuing on the deck while looking out through the tall pine trees that line the 16th fairway. 18 holes of golf will cost you $109.00 (all green fees include the golf cart as well as unlimited balls on the range). Afternoons after 2:30 offer you great value for only $89.00 so Trickle Creek is also a great course to play for your second round of the day. A new feature this year is Monday social night where you can play for $59.00 anytime after 2:00 pm. There are many feature holes on this course but the one that always draws the most attention is the 11th par 3 that offers magnificent mountain views and a challenging green. Pick up your clubs and walk to the clubhouse which is only steps from the condo. Book your tee times by phoning 250-427-5171.

St Eugene golf resort more than matches the tradition of great golf in the Kootenay Rockies. Designed by acclaimed architect Les Furber, it is indeed a masterpiece in an incredible setting. Winding its way through open links land and rolling woodlands, this golf course carries spectacular views of the St. Mary River and the powerful Fisher Peak amidst the Rocky Mountains to the east. I always love to play this course and spend a bit of time at the casino or having dinner at the resort. It is a much different round than the other course as it offers traditional links golf as well as some mountain views along the St Mary’s river. The wind really can come into play out here and challenges the beginner or scratch golfer on every round. Weekend rates are $85.00 per person (not including carts but unlimited balls on the range) and twilight is $55.00. To play St Eugene during the week offers considerable saving as the weekday rate is $65.00  per person and twilight is $45.00. Golf carts are and additional $17.00 per person. You can book a shuttle to pick you up at the condo and bring you home. Contact me for more information if you are looking at this alternative. St Eugene is about a 20 minute drive from the Legends at Tall Pines. Book your tee times here.

Shadow Mountain Golf Course is the newest addition to the area. Architect Wayne Carleton spared no expenses when building this golf course. Shadow Mountain has its own character and personality, meandering through mature forests and featuring large contoured greens, rolling Bentgrass fairways and rugged classic bunkering that will define each and every hole. This course is definitely a challenge off the fairway and has some unbelievable views. Weekend rates are $115.00 per person and weekday rates are $99.00. Weekend twighlight is $85.00 and weekday twighlight is $75.00. One interesting addition to their rates is that you can replay the same day for twighlight rates. Also, groups of 16 or more receive discounted green fees. If you are heading to play St. Eugene, this course is about 5 minutes away and makes a great start to the day. Book your tee times here.

If you are planning to stay more than a weekend, you can always head out towards Fairmont where you can play Eagle Ranch, Copperpoint, Greywolf, and Radium Hot springs making the perfect golf getaway. Fairmont is about a 45 minute drive from the Legends at Tall Pines.

I hope you enjoy your next vacation to the area and make The Legends at Tall Pines your preferred accommodation for your next golf trip. If you have any questions regarding any of the courses, just send me an email and I will be glad to help out. Ensure to book early as we are already filling up. Happy Golfing!!

By Bruce Constantineau, Vancouver Sun, August 28, 2009

The small East Kootenay town that morphed into the Bavarian City of the Rockies in the 1970s wants to become the Paralympic training centre of Canada in the new millennium.

Kimberley expects to have Paralympic ski teams from Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and other countries training on a dedicated run at Kimberley Alpine Resort just before the Paralympic Games next year.

The Dreadnaught run was developed to accommodate downhill, slalom, giant slalom and super-G events, with safety netting from top to bottom and new communications and timing equipment.

The facility is fully equipped with ski equipment required by disabled athletes and International Paralympic Committee World Cup events were held there in 2005 and 2007.

Now, city officials hope to capitalize on the run’s international reputation by building a $6-million Paralympic Training and Conference Centre at the base of the mountain by late 2010.

“International teams are talking to us now about the possibility of coming here and training in the future,” Kimberley Mayor Jim Ogilvie said. “So throughout the Olympics, we’ll make it known we’re going to have this centre available.”

The provincial government committed $3.9 million to Kimberley’s Paralympic vision four years ago and the city has used some of those funds to help develop the ski run and to make its civic arena and curling rink more accessible for disabled athletes.

The arena’s players’ benches and penalty boxes now are at ice level, allowing for smooth transitions on and off the ice for sledge hockey players, while dressing rooms have been renovated with automatic doors, accessible washrooms and showers, wide benches and equipment boxes.

Curling venue upgrades include covered ramp access and automatic doors leading into the building. The city’s two-year-old aquatic centre is also wheelchair-accessible.

“What we’re saying is come here and train here because we really do have the complete package,” Ogilvie said.

The package won’t be totally complete until the new ski-in, ski-out training and conference centre is built next year, but he said most of the project funding is already in place — including $2.5 million left from the provincial grant, another $2 million in federal-provincial infrastructure funding and $1 million from the city.

The facility will have training facilities, change rooms, meeting rooms, audio-visual equipment and conference space for up to 500 people.

Kimberley didn’t send delegations to previous Games, but Ogilvie noted several international sport federations found out about the city’s Paralympic aspirations at the B.C. Pavilion in Turin in 2006.

He credits renowned Canadian ski instructor Jerry Johnston for giving Kimberley so much credibility as a centre for training disabled athletes. The 73-year-old member of the Order of Canada moved to Kimberley from Alberta in 1980 and brought his groundbreaking training skills with him.

He began training disabled skiers in the early 1960s and he and his wife, Annie, established Canada’s first disabled skiing program; they created the Canadian Association for Disabled Skiing in 1976.

Johnston helped establish the Japanese Handicapped Ski Association and headed the disabled skiing exhibition at the Olympic Winter Games in Calgary in 1988. He’s not an active trainer these days, but he remains an important consultant in Kimberley’s Paralympic plans.

“Paralympic skiing in Kimberley has been very successful,” Johnston said. “Things have really opened up for a lot of teams to train here and they don’t have to run around looking for equipment for speed racing.

“A lot of resorts won’t shut down a hill, but we have an agreement that we can do that for training.”

Kimberley will continue to attract high-level competitions for disabled athletes, he said, but it will be hard to become a permanent fixture on the IPC ski circuit because so many countries want to hold the events.

“It’s good to move the events around because that helps increase the popularity of the sport,” Johnston said. “Disabled athletes still aren’t respected at all in some countries and we have to change that. People thought we were crazy the first time we went to Japan but they really accepted the sport when they saw what the athletes could do.”

Kimberley Alpine Resort representative Matt Mosteller said the proposed new training centre will become a year-round facility for able-bodied and disabled athletes, with fitness and dryland training taking priority in non-winter months.

“The sport has been a very big positive for the community,” he said. “Athletes come to live and train in the area and there’s an economic win when you create and host events.”

Kimberley will host a Nor-Am competition for able-bodied snowboarders just before the Olympics in February next year, then hold a Nor-Am event for disabled skiers before the Paralympics begin in March.

The city expects to attract disabled curlers to its curling venue before the 2010 Paralympic Games and the Canadian men’s sledge hockey team is scheduled to play against an international opponent in the Kimberley Civic Centre on March 1.

Steve Bova, an instructor who runs a disabled ski academy at the resort, noted the Canadian snowboard team trained on the mountain last year and the Nor-Am snowboard event will attract snowboarders from all over the world.

“The main thing is to market what we have now and get the people here,” he said. “From a coach’s point of view, the venues are what’s important and we have them.”

bconstantineau@vancouversun.com

Published: May 26, 2009 10:00 AM
Updated: May 26, 2009 1:19 PM

When introducing a new event, organizers always worry if anybody will be interested and Brenda Birrell, race manager for the Bootleg Gap Sled Dog Races, admits it was no different for her. She should not have worried, however, as about 3,600 visitors came through the doors at the Bootleg Gap on Saturday and Sunday to cheer on the mushers, pet the sled dogs and support this first annual fundraiser for the East Kootenay Friends of Children Fund.

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Published: October 29, 2008 6:00 AM
Updated: October 30, 2008 2:08 PM

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Calgary, AB – July, 2008 – Delta Air Lines has discovered the tourism treasures of the Kootenay Rockies Region of British Columbia and will begin direct jet service to Canadian Rockies International Airport (YXC) on December 17, 2008 from Salt Lake City (SLC).

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