It might be quiet now, but opening day will see Fernie Alpine Resort (FAR) awash with visitors in what will be the first year of no COVID-rules since the 2019-2020 season.
“Simply put, we’re returning back to the fun of skiing and riding however you enjoy it,” said Matt Mosteller of FAR parent company, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR).
Mosteller said that the provincially-mandated rules o f the two seasons past had now been lifted, and FAR would be operating as normal.
“It’s super exciting, not only for people that love to ski and snowboarding, but its super exciting for us as well.”
With a tentative opening day of December 3, Mosteller said that things were looking good so far.
“We’ve been fortunate to have a good late October and early November storm cycle, and as of last week over 90 percent of our snow-making on the lizard run has been completed already.”
He said that crews were busy making the most of the cool temperatures in the forecast pushing around snow to create a sturdy base and get ready for more precipitation.
“Everybody keep doing their snow dance, we like ‘Snowvembers’, because strong Novembers are really good for skiing and riding in December.”
Like all other businesses, FAR has been hit with staffing concerns in the past few years and currently, but Mosteller said things were looking good for the local resort so far, especially when compared to seasons past, when the usual influx of foreign workers was cut off. Those workers weren’t coming back yet, but the domestic workforce was stepping up, he said.
“We do still have lots of winter positions to fill (but) we have had a tremendous response and follow-up with candidates for this year compared to the last two years, so significantly more people have been applying and following up.
“With what we’ve seen in the amount of interest, we think this will be definitely a better year than the last two years”
Currently there are 34 different job categories being advertised on the RCR website specific to the FAR operations.
Housing in another file Mosteller said RCR had put some work into, with the company securing 30 units in town from the existing housing supply for their seasonal workforce.
He said that housing was a major push from the company to lock down its employment strategy, with another push on that file being appealing to domestic, part-time workers such as people who have retired or are looking for a second job.
“The employment strategy is really broad now. In the past it maybe got a little narrow because we had such a great program of people coming in from abroad.”
Looking forward to the December 3 opening day, Mosteller said locals could expect events and programming to spool up to pre-pandemic levels, while there’s plenty else going on at the hill, including a movie being filmed over the next few weeks (from November 14), to investments in new grooming machinery that’s more efficient.
Keep an eye on the Fernie Alpine Resort website to keep up to date with events (there’s 159cm worth of snow already fallen on the hill), and keep a lookout for updates on that tentative opening day of December 3.
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scott.tibballs@thefreepress.ca
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