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Ski club shares hopes for Bull Mountain

A new lodge, a storage building to house grooming equipment, even a webcam to update users on snow conditions are all items on the Williams Lake Cross Country Ski Club’s wish list for the Bull Mountain ski area.
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If their dreams come true, members of the Williams Lake Cross Country Ski Club hope one day to have a new lodge on site, said director of operations Sean Seabourne during a presentation to city council. Tara Sprickerhoff photo

A new lodge, a storage building to house grooming equipment, even a webcam to update users on snow conditions are all items on the Williams Lake Cross Country Ski Club’s wish list for the Bull Mountain ski area.

The club’s director of operations Sean Seabourne and treasurer Darcy Lazzarin made a presentation to city council last Tuesday and outlined the club’s hopes for the future.

“A ski lodge is a big dream and would cost about $500,000, but it is something we are working towards,” Seabourne said.

As for the storage building, the cost he estimated would be about $90,000 and is something the club really wants to begin constructing by next year.

Lazzarin said they do not have anyone working at the hill full-time but there is an operations manager for the site part-time.

“If we get a storage building then we could have someone available for limited hours and mostly weekends,” she said.

“A webcam would be great because the weather can vary greatly from what it is like in town,” he explained, noting the ski area is located about 16 kilometres north of Williams Lake.

Presently the area boasts 28 kilometres of groomed trails used for skiing and snowshoeing. There are 3.5 kilometres of lit trails, three kilometres of dog trails and eight kilometres of snowshoe trails.

Last summer’s wildfires burned a one-kilometre section of the Gunanoot Trail on one side, two to three hectares of the ski area was burned into the ski area, and about four kilometres of trail was turned into a fire guard to fight the fire coming across the Fraser River.

“This year we temporarily rebuilt the trail surface and we will have to reassess it next year,” Seabourne said.

There is still a bunch of work that needs to be completed and the club is working with Desi Cheverie of Recreation Sites and Trails BC to explore funding possibilities such as Northern Development Initiative Trust and Gaming.

Coun. Sue Zacharias suggested Lazzarin and Seabourne pursue Red Cross wildfire recovery funding for the projects.

“I’ve seen a number of the applications and they could be to do with wellness of the families, children, communities to abate the stress and trauma,” Zacharias said.

“They are looking to focus on those types of projects and I’d encourage you to connect with them. The more we can offer in our community for sport and activities the better.”

The club was established in 1992, and was one of the sites used in the 2002 Winter Games.

In the future the club would like to develop a biathlon range and are exploring the costs.



Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
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