NEWS
Bridal Veil Mountain Resort (BVMR) is pleased to share some recent project updates as we work to become the first all-season destination mountain resort in Canada, owned, designed, managed and governed with First Nations.
Earth Day Recognition for BVMR:
Each year on April 22, one billion people in more than 193 countries celebrate Earth Day, which marks the birth of the modern environmental movement. Speaking for the Earth is the official book of the first Earth Day, and this year, a trailer for the book features BVMR area footage, along with footage from Spain, Japan, Germany, Thailand, United States and South Africa.
The book’s publisher said BVMR footage was chosen to represent Canada because of “its commitment to support the environment and its goal to develop an all-season resort that connects people and nature, while preserving the surrounding natural landscape.” News of BVMR’s inclusion in the video was covered by media outlets with a combined readership base of more than 57 million people, and so far, the video has been viewed more than 113,000 times.
Canada’s first Ropetaxi gondola system — Letter of Intent signed with Bartholet AG:
Our Bridal Veil Mountain Resort team was recently invited to Switzerland by Bartholet AG. Bartholet is part of the HTI Group, the world’s largest manufacturer of aerial gondolas and lifts. Among Bartholet AG’s innovative products are state-of-the-art Ropetaxi gondola systems that require up to 50% less energy to operate than traditional aerial gondolas, making them the greenest solution on the market.
The Ropetaxi is a new gondola product that has autonomous drive capabilities that can link several gondolas together and take users to multiple destinations. This would allow BVMR visitors to arrive, park their car at the base of the mountain, and choose their destination with the press of a button (e.g., ski hill, village, lobby of their hotel, etc.). A gondola car would arrive at their platform, the doors would open like an elevator, and the car would rejoin the moving ropeway and whisk the users to their desired location. The Ropetaxi only dispatches cars when users require them, ensuring no extra gondola cars are in use. The Ropetaxis would provide public transportation throughout the BVMR property and create an alpine area free of vehicle traffic. President of BVMR, Robert Wilson states, “The Ropetaxi is an innovative technology that will fundamentally change how a resort and surrounding community are built. This will be a completely new way of envisioning a walkable community.”
BVMR and Bartholet AG have signed a letter of intent that will see the first Ropetaxi system in Canada installed at Bridal Veil Mountain Resort. This partnership represents another example of BVMR’s commitment to environmental responsibility and incorporating the world’s best practices in mountain resort design.
Ski Industry Support
Bridal Veil Mountain Resort is currently exploring opportunities with several Fortune 500 companies that understand how BVMR will create a truly unique and world-class experience. We recently made two trips to Europe where we met with manufacturers, visited several all-season resorts, and secured Letters of Intent from several innovative industry suppliers that are enthusiastic about helping BVMR build one of the world’s most environmentally sustainable resorts.
Jeff Wilson, Executive Vice-President, BVMR (right), and BVMR planner Matt Bakker of Brent Harley & Associates (left) at the Mountain Planet conference and trade show held in France.
LiDAR Studies
As part of our commitment to meeting or exceeding the highest environmental standards and developing the data needed to fully evaluate the project in collaboration with Stó:lō Communities, we have just invested another $80,000 in detailed LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data for the proposed project area.
The airborne LiDAR system generated over 1.3 billion data points, providing unequalled three-dimensional topographic and planimetric information about the area. The acquisition of the LiDAR data is a huge step forward in our efforts to develop a comprehensive technical inventory and analysis of the proposed project area, a key part of detailed environmental studies and the resort planning process to be carried out jointly with Stó:lō Communities.
Survey
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to provide their feedback about our proposed project via the BVMR survey on our website. Out of the more than 1,100 responses we’ve received, 87% have indicated they support Bridal Veil Mountain Resort! If you haven’t taken the survey yet, please visit www.BVMR.ca
Bridal Veil Mountain Resort acknowledges our proposed project is located in S’ólh Téméxw, the traditional and unceded lands of the Stó:lō people since time immemorial.
We look forward to keeping you informed throughout 2024.