Crystal Mountain (British Columbia)
- This article is for the ski resort near Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. For the similarly named ski resort near Seattle Washington, see Crystal Mountain.
Crystal Mountain Resort is a small day-use ski area near West Kelowna, British Columbia. It has two chairlifts and one surface lift: a GMD Mueller doublechair, a Leitner-Poma triplechair, and a Doppelmayr T-bar. The ski area has 30 designated runs most of which are groomed. The resort also has many different tree trails and some glades. It was long known as Last Mountain Ski Resort, but changed its name to Crystal Mountain Resort in 1992. Crystal Mountain Resort offers lessons for skiing and snowboarding as well as offering rentals for snowshoeing. It has not been in operation since 2014 due to a lift malfunction.
The ski resort was originally opened on December 9th, 1967 by Pat and Allan McLeod under the name of Last Mountain Ski Resort. Mount Last rises to the highest elevation above the resort area and was named in 1967 after Herbert and Charlotte Last, an English couple who had owned the land now occupied by the resort since 1909 and ran the general store and post office in Westbank, British Columbia. In the first year of operation, the resort sold 150 family ski passes. In the early days, there was a teahouse at the top of the main lift [the Blue doublechair]. It was open during the summer for the first three years. A ski school club was created for youngsters. The resort later was passed to John Barley and in 1992 it was sold to the Tschanz family from Lenzerheide, Switzerland, and the company name was changed to Crystal Mountain Resorts Ltd. The name was changed to Crystal Mountain to remind people of the snow, something bright and fun. The current operation offers 70 seasonal jobs. Since the beginning, the resort has offered both day skiing and night skiing to allow for evening fun and training to families interested in beginner and intermediate skiing [NOTE: the mountain no longer has night skiing]. At the 30th anniversary of the resort, in 1997, there was considerable excitement and discussions started regarding the development of the resort with a year-round expansion, based on its location as the closest hill to Kelowna and as the closest Okanagan ski resort to Vancouver. [1]
Crystal Mountain is located in the Okanagan region of British Columbia with the nearest large city being Kelowna. The ski resort itself is located north of Glenrosa, on the mountains above Westbank, West of Kelowna. It has good potential for development of a resort on the gentle slopes of the Okanagan Valley, at an elevation that avoids most of the winter fog, and it has ample room to expand the skiable terrain. The ski resort area at Crystal Mountain is one of the primary attractions to Westbank during the winter months. The ski area base is located at the upper terminus of the Glenrosa Road, which runs from Highway 97 up the mountain to the ski resort area. The Glenrosa interchange was recently rebuilt and provides easy access from the nearby Coquihalla Connector, or Highway 97c, connecting Vancouver and the Lower Mainland to Westbank and Kelowna.
Crystal Mountain is approximately 9 kilometres west of the Westbank community, which provide an existing infrastructure and an existing capable workforce. Local literature describes Westbank as follows: The community of Westbank is located on the west side of Okanagan lake opposite the city of Kelowna. Like most of the Central Okanagan, Westbank is a popular tourist destination as well as a popular location for those seeking a relaxed lifestyle.[2]
The top elevation is 1,440 m (4,724 ft) with a vertical drop of 212 m (700 ft) coming to a base elevation of 1,228 m (4,024 ft). The runs are composed of the following levels of difficulty: 30% Novice, 50% Intermediate and 20% Advanced. [References 1]
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Coordinates: 49°52′52.83″N 119°42′40.34″W / 49.8813417°N 119.7112056°W
- ↑ http://www.crystalresort.com/expand/download/mp/Crystal-MP-2006.pdf
- ↑ http://www.crystalresort.com/expand/download/mp/Crystal-MP-2006.pdf