Vancouver Island’s snow-starved Mount Washington Ski Resort has been sold to a Utah-based company renowned for its snow-making technology.
The sale to Pacific Group Resorts Inc., reportedly in the works for years, includes the ski hill and most of the land surrounding the base of the resort, while the current owners will hang on to two pieces of prime development land.
“We’ve been working with George Stuart and Darryl Eddy for a couple years now on the transition of the resort to new ownership,” PGRI president and general manager Peter Gibson said in a media release. “It finally worked out that this was the right time, and we are
very excited to have the opportunity to add Mount Washington to our portfolio.”
The company says its snowmaking technology is able to cover virtually all of its ski hills.
That could be good news for Mount Washington, which has struggled with a severe lack of snow in the last several years.
“What it does is it gets some confidence for the future, I think the excitement about snowmaking is a positive thing,” said Mount Washington’s director of business operations, Don Sharpe. “Then the development of our summer operations is really a positive step as we move forward.”
The resort was forced to cut its ski season short the last two years due to rising temperatures and a lack of snow, but operators have said they’re optimistic that El Nino could bring significant precipitation to the mountain this year.
PGRI operates four resorts in North America, including Wintergreen Resort in Virginia, Wisp Resort in Maryland and Ragged Mountain in New Hampshire.
Some of those resorts include attractions like a mountain roller coaster, a man-made white water rafting course, summer mountain biking and hiking trails and canopy tours.
The company says its snowmaking system at Wisp Resort is referred to as the most advanced in North America, and can cover trails with up to a foot of snow in a period of 24 hours.
It is unknown how much the resort was sold for.
