Mount Washington Alpine Resort
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mount Washington Alpine Resort | |
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| Location: | Vancouver Island, Canada |
| Nearest city: | Courtenay, Comox |
| Coordinates: | |
| Top elevation: | 1,588 m (5,215 ft) |
| Base elevation: | 1,083 m (3,558 ft) |
| Runs: | 60 |
| Lift system: | 6 chair lifts 3 surface tows |
| Terrain parks: | 2 terrainparks, 1 half-pipe |
| Snow fall: | 9 m (30 ft)/year |
| Web page: | Mount Washington.ca |
Mount Washington Alpine Resort is an alpine skiing resort located on Mount Washington on the eastern edge of the Vancouver Island Ranges in British Columbia, Canada. The nearest community is the Comox Valley, a 3 - 3.5 hour drive North from the capital of Victoria, British Columbia.
The mountain allows for a wide variety of downhill terrain, ranging from beginner to expert. There are additionally facilities for snow tubing and a terrain park. Mount Washington also manages the nordic trails on Forbidden Plateau in nearby Strathcona Provincial Park.
During the summer months the lifts are open to sightseers and downhill mountain bikers. Much of the summer activity is focused in the nearby park, which draws thousands of tourists and backpackers each year.
The once flourishing mountain at one point faced the possibility of bankruptcy as there had not had enough snow to fully open for the last season, and preliminary weather for the 2005/2006 season was extremely poor.
On December 10th 2005 Mount Washington announced it did not have enough snow to open on schedule, making it the second consecutive year the mountain did not open as planned. These early fears, however, dissipated quickly after record amounts of snow fell on the mountain almost continuously for several weeks. On January 5th, 2006, the resort reported that it had a snow base of 215 cm (at least 100 cm is needed by the mountain to function at full capacity) and that all lifts were operational. On January 6th, 2006, the mountain opened the Boomerang, a state-of-the art continuous lift system that extends up one vertical face of the mountain and down the other, with a capacity of 1200 guests per hour. The new lift opened up 400 acres of additional advanced terrain for the mountain. Although originally scheduled to open the previous season, lack of snow had postponed the opening. The snow base as of March 20th, 2006 was 475cm.
