Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK
July 25, 2019 - 1:49 PM
KELOWNA - After two years of trying to salvage what’s left of the old Crystal Mountain ski resort, Don Journeay is planning to re-open the hill on a limited basis this winter.
“I just want to get kids and people up here skiing,” Journeay told iNFOnews.ca today, July 25. “I raised my kids on this mountain. I was broken hearted when I came up here in 2017, just seeing the amount of damage.”
He had worked at the mountain in the 1990s and was snowboarding the day a serious accident elsewhere on the hill led to its being closed since 2014.
He signed a lease on Tuesday to reopen the hill, independent from the old Crystal Mountain Resort. He will open it as a snowboard park under the name Bull Mountain Adventure Park. His initial plans call for opening the T-bar and training lifts, having a terrain park and a skating rink, plus more this winter.
He’s formed his own numbered company and is hoping engage the community, particularly the Glenrosa neighbourhood for volunteers and will be looking for investors to help get things going.
He visited the hill in 2017 and found the lodge door had been broken down, pictures of kids who skied there were scattered on the floor and other damage done to the site.
“It was incredibly damaged and destroyed,” Journeay said. “It was vandalized beyond saving. The last couple of years, I’ve been working trying to clean up the mess here, working to try to reopen this mountain.”
Plans are obviously still being finalized but he's excited to get started and hopes he gains the backing of the community. He’s hoping to get a web site up this week with more information.
“I want to bring it to the level of enjoyment that I experienced when I was in my early 20s with my young kids,” he said.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2019