Tourist
Town Growing Pains
Big resort, small town - the
development of the Kicking Horse
Mountain Resort just outside
of Golden, British Columbia,
has provided a major boost to
the area's economy, but placed
an added strain on roads, municipal
services, housing, and other
local services. With an increase
in the number of accommodation
units in Golden from 600 to
almost 2,000 in the past decade,
the "carrying capacity"
of the town is being tested.
Explosive growth has placed
intense demand on community
infrastructure, and local government
and planning authorities are
being challenged to keep pace.
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Mountain Tourism Reaches
New Heights
Since the establishment of Yoho National Park
and the construction of the Canadian Pacific
Railway in the mid 1880's, tourism has been
the economic mainstay of the Kicking Horse
River Valley. With the Trans Canada Highway
providing direct access to the valley's scenic
attractions and services, including the Burgess
Shale fossil site, Emerald and O'Hara Lakes,
and some of North America's most spectacular
mountain ranges, the Kicking Horse area has
been associated with sightseeing and outdoor
recreation for more than a century. Its rugged
but accessible terrain is made to order for
backcountry hiking, mountaineering, ice climbing,
paragliding, whitewater rafting and mountain
biking. The designation of the Kicking Horse
River as a Canadian Heritage River, and the
inclusion of the Kicking Horse Valley in the
Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage
Site, have both added to the international
reputation of the area.
Kicking Horse Kick-start: The contemporary
Kicking Horse River service centres of Field
and Golden trace their economic beginnings
to the railway; the town of Golden has also
drawn support from the forestry industry,
once a major employer in the Columbia River
Valley. But a recent multi-million dollar
ski resort development near Golden has overshadowed
other economic and employment factors, catapulting
the area into the realm of world-class resort
destinations.
The year-round Kicking Horse Mountain Resort,
built on the site of the former volunteer-run
Whitetooth ski hill, features a 4,131 foot
(1,239 metre) vertical drop, the 2nd highest
in Canada (next to Whistler-Blackcomb),
and the 3rd highest in North America. The
resort currently features 2,600 skiable
acres (1,053 hectares), with its capacity
expected to double by 2005.
Bright Future: An average annual
snowfall of almost 7 metres, and a premium
location in the midst of 3 mountain ranges
(Purcells, Selkirks and Canadian Rockies)
and 6 national parks (Banff, Glacier, Kootenay,
Yoho, Revelstoke and Jasper) have contributed
to the meteoric rise in the Kicking Horse
Mountain Resort's international reputation.
State-of-the-art lifts, sophisticated slope-side
accommodation and mountain-top dining facilities
are part of the development; the resort's
10-year plan calls for even more attractions
and services. |
