Spuzzum First Nation Ski Resort Proposed In Southwest British Columbia
A proposal for a brand-new ski resort in Hope, B.C., just under two hours east of Vancouver, has been announced, and not by a giant resort conglomerate taking over independent hills.
South Anderson Resort is proposed by the Spuzzum First Nation for a site just north of Hope in a scenic area surrounded by Highway 1 to the west and the Coquihalla Highway to the east.
The site in the Cascade Mountain Range is roughly a two-hour and 30-minute drive from Vancouver International Airport (but that time could lower in the future with highway expansions).
The First Nation presented the concept to Hope’s municipal government on Monday, but project has actually been in the works for at least three years.
Apparently, resort-creating propositions take a lot of time to be cleared, and many never go through. As of right now, this one is just a proposal, as plenty of B.C. resorts have been proposed--and shot down--in the past.
The next step for South Anderson is provincial review, where B.C. regulators will share positive or negative feedback on the proposal.
But this is the kind of resort we can get behind: the Spuzzum First Nation people announced plans last week to build an 815-skiable-acre resort with a 2,300-foot vertical drop and 11 lifts.
The South Anderson Resort would have a four-season base village with around 12,000 beds in hotels, condos, houses, an RV park, dining, retail, and 1,200 units of employee housing.
The motivation behind building this resort is to create jobs for the Spuzzum people.
Daily Hive reported that the Spuzzum First Nation, "which has reserves in the Fraser Canyon, says their project has the support of the surrounding three First Nations in the area, which are the Boston Bar First Nation, Yale First Nation and Coldwater First Nation."
“From the Spuzzum First Nation perspective, we will benefit from the South Anderson Mountain Resort Project through construction and operational job creation and sustainable cash flow from development and operations of the resort. Through the planning and development of the resort project, Spuzzum First Nation and our technical team, will build significant capacity within our (and other First Nations) communities through development planning phases.”
Spuzzum First Nation (Spuzzum) is an unincorporated First Nations settlement nestled on the Trans Canada Hwy #1 in the lower Fraser Canyon, 30 kilometers (50 kilometers of road) north of Hope, BC. Spuzzum Nation is a Nlaka’pamux First Nations government located in Spuzzum.
Spuzzum consists of 16 reserves. Spuzzum membership totals approximately 276 persons with approximately 50 living on reserve.
The majority of the reserve is natural canyon land and covered with first and second growth forest.
For more details on the potential new resort, including 100+ pages of maps, reports, photos, and info about the Spuzzum community, read the proposal here, beginning on page 19.
Fingers crossed that this one works out! It would be a positive project for a lot of people, and the finished result would stoke skiers out far and wide.
Related: Canadian Ski Resort Closed Indefinitely
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