Mount Washington Alpine Resort has been named Business of the Year at the 2011 Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce Annual Community Awards. The Resort was among six nominees vying for the Award.
Two $3-million projects were completed at the Resort last year, which contributed to the Award. The Resort built its new Easy Acres beginners’ area with four covered Magic Carpet people movers. The Vancouver Island Mountain Sports Society also completed the Vancouver Island Mountain Centre, also a $3-million project, which has had a successful first winter of operation.
‘The fact that you get recognized for doing the things that you do is a real pleasure,’ Resort Director of Business Operations Don Sharpe told the local media.
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Resort President Peter Gibson has finished his term as Chairman of the Board of the Canada West Ski Areas Assn.
Gibson will serve two years as Past-Chairman, and that will conclude his 12-year association with the Board. Gibson started off as a Director, then chaired the B.C. and Yukon Zone for four years before ascending to the Chairman’s position.
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Mount Washington may be home to the Tony Barrett Mount Washington Marmot Breeding Center, but this winter Henry Road was home to the Marten Breeding Center.
Rumour has it that one home midway up Henry Road had a pair of martens nesting under the stairs. With such a snowy season, there’s no telling what was going on under those stairs, since martens don’t technically hibernate.
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Mount Washington honoured its longtime employees with a service awards banquet in February at the Florence Filberg Centre in Courtenay. This year, the Resort also honoured longtime volunteers, including the Volunteer Ski Patrol.
‘Historically, we used to do a recognition barbecue at the end of the season,’ Resort President Peter Gibson said. Events have also been held downstairs at the Black Fin Pub in Comox.
This year, the Resort’s human resources committee decided to invite spouses, include volunteers and move to the larger venue.
Gibson said it was especially important that the Volunteer Ski Patrol members be recognized as employees at the mountain.’It was very well received. It was just a fun night,’ he added.
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Mel Pemble, a racer with the Vancouver Island Society for Adaptive Snowsports, earned a bronze medal at the B.C. Para Alpine Provincial Championships on Cypress Mountain, March 3-4. She won her medal in a challenging slalom.
The Mark R. Isfeld Secondary School Girls’ Snowboard Team won their second BC School Sports Provincial Banner with a successful showing at the 2012 championships Feb. 27–29 at Whistler Blackcomb. Alexa Hornstein, a Grade 11 student at Isfeld, placed first in the GS – beating 53 other female competitors as well as all 87 of the male competitors.
Stewart Walker from Mount Washington earned a gold medal in single moguls at the BC Winter Games in Vernon last Feb., competing with the Zone 6 team.
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Mei Pond from Nanaimo earned two bronze medals at the Junior Nationals in Quebec, also in February, in both slopestyle and single moguls.
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North Island College NIC’s new Exercise and Wellness certificate program makes the most of the area’s ocean and mountains, the nearby Comox Valley Aquatic Centre and NIC classrooms. It combines first-year university transfer classes in English, biology, and physiology with lifetime sports activities, allowing students to gain fitness knowledge while they earn transfer credit toward health-related degrees.
Students taking this new certificate can complete one year in the Comox Valley then guarantee a spot in Camosun College’s two-year Exercise and Wellness diploma program, or transfer into education, recreation and health-related programs at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo and beyond.
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Podium of Life Academy intends to offer a water ramp camp in Whistler and a surf camp in Tofino later this summer. ‘There is so much adventure here on Vancouver Island and I like to offer opportunities for students to experience some of these,’ owner and instructor Shane Harle said.
Podium of Life is already taking registration for next year, and they have added a snowboarding component to the academy for the first time.
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Wendy Woodley is having a birthday this November 5. Can’t tell you how old that makes her, but with the birthday will bring her retirement from the Marmot. Wendy has been the ad sales force behind the Mount Washington publication since 1998 and she will be fondly missed. Wendy is continuing her role looking after the accommodation section.