The ice rink is open at Bull Mountain Adventure Park in West Kelowna.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/ Bull Mountain Adventure Park
February 16, 2020 - 2:30 PM
While work is still underway to get a West Kelowna ski resort up and running, resort owners are offering their skating rink and hills to anyone who wants to enjoy the snow.
Don Journeay and his partner Jenny Giesbrecht started taking care of the decrepit Crystal Mountain Resort three years ago, and last year he took a serious step toward bringing it back to life under the name Bull Mountain Adventure Park.
After a 2014 chairlift accident, the 30-run resort, which is located just a short drive away from West Kelowna, was abandoned and it fell into ruin in the years that followed.
Bull Mountain Adventure Park has been holding open houses every Sunday for the last six weeks, “just so people can come up and enjoy the snow,” Giesbrecht said. “Our rink is open and people are out there skating right now.”
She said they hope to officially open the resort near the end of 2020 or in 2021.
“There is a lot of work to do up here,” she said. “And it’s come a long way. We’ve been selling off some of the old rental equipment and we’ve made enough money from that to put all new windows in the lodge and in a few other buildings.”
In the last few months, there has been challenges that have come with the unexpected amount of snow the resort has received.
“We've been seriously dumped on since Christmas so we’ve been clearing off the lodge because we don’t want to have any problems with the infrastructure,” she said.
Currently, they are focusing on getting a T-bar and rope tow running.
“We may not get the lift running right away but that still doesn’t mean we can’t have fun up here,” she said.
“People are welcome to come toboggan,” she said, adding that skiers have been using the resort’s hills by hiking up them and skiing back down.
While patrons are welcome to come skate and ski for free, they’re asking for donations as “every bit helps,” Giesbrecht said.
The ice rink and ski hills will be open from 12-4 p.m. for Family Day, Feb. 17.
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