Skiing is my church. It’s usually said pajoratively but there is truth in the statement. Skiing and time spent outdoors can be the cure to just about anything, including an auto-immune disorder. Mountain Joy is a ski film about how Nat Segal battles an auto-immune disorder as a professional skier. Check it out on Helly Hansen’s YouTube channel.
2. Ski properties forecast increase
Royal LePage’s Winter Recreational Property Report forecasts the average price of real estate in ski country to top one million dollars. From Quebec to Vancouver Island the realty company expects single-family homes at ski resorts and mountain towns to increase by an average of 7.5 percent, pushing the average price over the six zero mark. The biggest gains should be in the Stoneham, Collingwood and Invermere areas. Condominiums are more of a mixed bag, with prices increasing in some areas and falling in others.
3. How climate change proof is your hill?
In case you’re wondering where to invest in ski property, Savills has released its latest rankings of the most climate change resilient ski resorts around the world. The global real estate advisor firm compiles the Ski Resilience Index using season length, altitude, snowfall, snowfall reliability and temperature. For 2024, the Italian resort of Breuil-Cervinia topped the ranking followed by Vail, Colorado, Val Thorens, France, Aspen, Colorado and Zermatt, Switzerland. Only two Canadian resorts are on the list. Whistler Blackcomb ranked 24th and Mont Tremblant was 39th. Both tumbled 10 spots compared to the year before’s ranking.
4. Ski like it’s 1991
To celebrate its 70th anniversary this year, Atomic is reliving the glory days of the 1991 World Champs held at Saalbach, Austria. The Atomic ARC was the winning ski that year. In memory and celebration Atomic is releasing a retro capsule collection, which includes the X9S Restro ARC 735s, AMT SQS poles, and matching Four Pro HD goggles. The whole capsule is retro on the outside, but full of modern tech on the inside. For the nostalgic carving fans among us, it available in limited quantities starting this week.
5. The problem with BIG $kiing
The Atlantic Magazine poled into the debate about what ails the ski industry with an online article that argues that the multi-area ski passes are making skiing unaffordable for the occasional and new skiers and untenable for employees. It focuses on the strike at Utah’s Park City Resort, which ended last week. It’s an interesting analysis, but misses a lot of nuance, especially for Canadians.
6. Sink holes!
There are many dangers at ski resorts: tree wells, avalanches, trees, other skiers, creeks, cliffs. Now add another one – sink holes. A 67-year old man died at Fernie Alpine Resort after falling into a sink hole. RCMP say poor visibility probably led the man into a naturally occurring terrain trap near the Polar Peak lift where he fell into a large hole filled with loose snow.
