Ski Resort Closure Dates 2006

It’s getting closer to that time when we dust off our mountain bikes, pump up our tires and put our skis and boards into storage…..well, not quite – there is still about another two months of skiing and riding in the Canadian Rockies!

The closing dates below have now been confirmed:

Ski Resort Closing Dates 2006
Resort Date
Kimberley 2nd April
Banff Norquay 16th April
Panorama 16th April
Kicking Horse 17th April
Nakiska 17th April
Fernie 18th April
Lake Louise 1st May
Jasper Marmot Basin 1st May
Sunshine Village 22nd May

For resort information please visit Canada-Ski.com.

To catch a few last turns and last minute deals, contact rocky-peak Holidays.

Jasper Marmot Basin to stay open until May 1st!

It’s official, Jasper Marmot Basin will be open until May 1st, 2006.

Marmot will be hosting a customer appreciation day on May 1st and lift tickets will be only $10.00. The patios and barbeques will be blazing, so come on out, bring your sun screen and get in a few last turns to help us wrap up another great season!

You can still ski and stay at Jasper from $89 per person with rocky-peak Holidays. This offer includes a day lift pass at Marmot Basin and a night in a 3 star hotel. Click HERE for more information.

The Canadian Rockies – a picture perfect backdrop for a Hollywood film

The success of Hollywood’s award-winning and critically-acclaimed Brokeback Mountain has spurred unprecedented efforts to woo tourists and moviemakers to the foothills of Canada’s conservative Alberta province where the film was shot.

The movie was shot along the Canadian Rockies, primarily in the Kananaskis Country region near Banff National Park, a rugged landscape often described by director Ang Lee as “mythical.”

There have been many movies filmed here – watch out for the “Assassination of Jesse James” starring Brad Pitt, due to be released later this year. This movie was filmed mostly at Spray Lakes, just outside of Canmore.

Alberta suspends grizzly bear hunt

Three-year ban meant to assess population size.

Alberta’s grizzly bear hunt has been cancelled for the first time after the province announced a three-year moratorium Friday.

The move comes four years after scientists and environmentalists began calling for the government to halt the annual hunt. They say the animals’ survival in Alberta is in peril. The province had maintained there were enough grizzlies to sustain a small hunt.

On Friday, however, the government said it doesn’t have a reliable estimate of how many grizzlies remain in Alberta, and it is suspending the hunt until 2009. At that time, the province expects to have a population count. A decision on whether to reinstate the hunt will be made then.

For now, the grizzly will remain a big game animal and won’t be classified as threatened, a recommendation made to the government in 2002.

Hunters have been restricted from targeting female grizzlies, but of the 10 bears killed by hunters last year, four were females; the year before, two of the six killed were females.

Grizzly bears don’t produce many cubs. Females are generally not sexually mature until they are seven years old. When they do mate, they have just one to four cubs.

Scientists and environmentalists believe the population is dangerously low — no more than 700.

Source: © The Calgary Herald 2006

How many grizzly bear lives are lost each year in Alberta?

ALBERTA SPRING GRIZZLY BEAR HUNT AND MORTALITY

Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Hunting licences available 145 122 130 101 73 73
Grizzlies killed in hunt 19 17 15 18 6 10
Killed by native, Metis hunters 3 0 4 0 0 1
Illegal killings 0 3 1 4 0 2
Shot and left 8 0 4 1 0 2
Mistaken identity (black bear) 1 4 4 1 0 1
Self defence 3 3 2 7 3 2
Accidental death 0 0 1 2 0 0
Research 0 0 1 2 0 2
Problem bears 0 0 0 0 2 2
Total human-caused grizzly mortalities 34 27 32 35 11 22

Source: Government of Alberta

This suspension is great news as there are enough human-caused grizzly mortalities without having to add hunting to the equation. There are several tours available to view these magnificent animals alive in their natural habitat. Please contact rocky-peak Holidays for more information.

Good news for skiers and boarders this spring

A federal forecaster has predicted that Canada will not receive an early spring so the Groundhog maybe wrong this year!

Most Canadians will have to endure a very slow start to spring, according to Environment Canada’s latest three-month forecast.

Environment Canada says most of the country will experience cooler than normal temperatures during the spring.

This is great news for the ski resorts as most of them open until late April, and some right through to late May. This would mean the snow stays light right through to the end of the season.

The spring is a great time to ski, here in the Canadian Rockies. The lifts open for longer and after Easter, the crowds usually drop off and there are fun end of season activities at the ski resorts such as a slush cup.

The atmosphere is awesome in the spring time, and the prices are less.

Olympic flag raised in Vancouver

The Torino Winter Games have come and gone and now it’s Vancouver’s turn to bask in the Olympic spotlight.

Vancouver Olympics 2010The countdown to the Vancouver Winter Games officially got underway Tuesday when Mayor Sam Sullivan raised the Olympic flag during a ceremony at Vancouver City Hall.

The flag will stay at city hall until the Games begin in February of 2010.

“So now the world’s eyes are on Vancouver,” said John Furlong, the head of the Vancouver’s Olympic organizing committee.

“And as we look up at this flag – as it looks down on our city – we will be reminded of the responsibility we have taken on. We will be reminded of the promises that we’ve made to stage truly great Games for the world.”

The Olympic flag has been passed from host city to host city since the 1952 Winter Games in Oslo. But that flag that was raised on Tuesday isn’t the same one Sullivan took from International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge and proudly waved from his custom wheelchair during the closing ceremony.

There are three Olympic flags and the one flying on the lawn of city hall is bigger than the ceremonial flag.

A tired-looking Sullivan arrived in British Columbia with the flags on Monday. He said being at the Olympics was like nothing he’s ever experienced before. He also admitted there were some anxious moments in the hours before the closing ceremony.

“I never had a billion people watch me do anything, and I also realized that I had to think what this was all about,” Sullivan said.

“It was all about the athletes. It was about people striving to be their best.”

Canadian athletes combined to win 24 medals at the Torino Games – Canada’s best-ever medal haul.

Canada’s previous best total was 17 medals. That plateau was reached in 2002 at the Salt Lake City Games.

Canadian Olympic officials are hoping to do even better at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. The goal is to win 35 medals and finish atop the medal standings.

Source: CBC Sports