Thank you once again for all your support this winter! We are really proud (and not surprised!) to see that Kimberley won the best small town in BC by CBC readers! And we were really stoked to see the Kimberley Alpine Team win the Mackenzie Investments Top Peak contest! Next up is voting for our friend Heather Gemmell and her powerful song about the arson on the Northstar Quad chair. Please give it a watch and vote for her now.  Last winter is not too far behind us, but we want you to know that we are very focused on getting the Quad chair fixed and operational for next winter. Here is an update on our progress on the reconstruction of the Northstar lift control building and systems:

Immediately after the fire we placed orders for the primary components that are needed for the rebuild. This includes the drives (the electronic devices that control the speed and braking of the lift), the PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) which is the computer system that manages the information coming from the various safety and control systems of the lift, and the communication lines that connect these systems from top to bottom.

Over the next few months these components are scheduled to arrive at Leitner-Poma’s facility in Kelowna, where their experts will assemble and program them to control the lift. They will then deliver them all to Kimberley and install them in a newly rebuilt lift control building (currently being planned), and reconnect all of the components to the Northstar.

It is hard to give an exact timeline of this process, but Leitner-Poma has generously prioritized the rebuilding of our lift in their production schedule and all efforts are being made to ensure that the Northstar will be running before next winter. We look forward to providing you with further regular and more detailed updates on the status of the project as it progresses.

Enjoy your spring!
The Kimberley Alpine Resort & Resorts of the Canadian Rockies Team

It was a beautiful warm blue sky ski day out on the mountain today. We hope that you were able to come out and join us for a ski or snowboard!

We wanted to provide you an update on our operations, and share some of the further generous help we are receiving from our industry partners:

New Warming Structure: You may have seen the big tent frame going up at the top of Easter. It is a 20’x30′ ‘Arctic Shelter’ tent structure that has been lent to us by Castle Mountain Resort. We expect to have it there for the rest of the winter for when you need to get out of the elements. Thank you to Castle Mountain for this! And we’d also like to send a big thank you to Bridge Interiors and New Dawn Developments Ltd. for the use of their tents over the last month.

New BBQ Trailer: The Rotary Club of Kimberley BC has generously offered us the use of their BBQ trailer, and so we are working towards having it moved up there. Thank you to the supportive people of Rotary! We will continue to run the BBQ Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. We are getting pretty excited about the great times to be had up there through the rest of the winter and into the spring! Stand by for the possibility of live music up there this spring as well!

New Snowcat People Mover: Castle Mountain Resort is also sending us a 12 seater people mover snowcat to use over the BC/AB Family Week. Thanks again Castle! All three cats will run from Saturday, February 19th to Sunday, February 27th. Our normal cat schedule is 2 cats Thursdays-Sundays, and one Mon-Wed. The reason we run with this schedule is that the cats need downtime to be worked by our mechanics to keep them running through the season, and so that we can return them to the other resorts in at least as good shape as they were sent to us. Thank you also once again to Revelstoke Mountain Resort and Kicking Horse Mountain Resort for the generous use of your snowcats!

New Snowcat Route: You may have noticed that we changed the route that the snowcats are taking up the mountain. Instead of just going straight up the Main, they are now turning left and going out to the bottom of the Boundary run, and then back towards the Main on the summer road. The challenge we were running into was that the 10-4 pitch on the Main was too steep for the cats so we needed to find a way to get them safely around the pitch. This only adds 5 minutes to the trip, but it will keep the cats in much better shape and provide for a more comfortable ride up. Up-Trackers – we have worked to still give you access to Boundary, but please do not cross the cat tracks or blue fence going either up or down.

Extended Equipment Shuttle Hours: We have extended the hours of operation on Fridays and Saturdays to 2:30 on the equipment shuttle up Ridgeway Traverse. Normally we run until 1:30 pm. We noticed that a lot of the school kids are out on Friday afternoons so we wanted to help them get up there, and there are quite a few people still heading out on Saturday afternoons as well.

Night Lights on the T-bar: We would like to thank New Dawn Developments for the use of their light standards for night skiing. They have also provided one of the tents being used at the top of the Easter Chair. Thanks again New Dawn for all your help!

North Star Quad Chair Fix: We wanted to share that the fix is proceeding well. The Leitner Poma experts have been on site multiple times to work with our technical team and have put the plan in place for the fix. Leitner-Poma of America has generously prioritized our fix in their production schedule. Once again, the fix will not be complete for this ski season, but all efforts are to ensure that we will be operating before next ski season.

Thank you again for all your feedback. Please know that we will continue to adapt and evolve our operation to do the best we can to provide you the best experience we can at the resort this, and every, ski season!

See you on the backside!

Ted Funston and the KAR and RCR Team

Update – January 10th

The Kimberley RCMP shared today that they believe the fire in the top lift control station of the Northstar Quad Chair in the early morning hours of December 18th, which made the lift inoperable, to be arson and deliberately set.

This will be a difficult and painful fact to comprehend and process for Kimberley Alpine Resort skiers and riders, for others in our community, for our resort team, and for skiers and riders throughout the ski industry.

We appreciate the work that the RCMP and other agencies have been doing on this fire and we will continue to assist them in any way we can. If you have any tips that may help in this investigation please contact our local RCMP.

Once again, our hearts and thoughts go out to all of the children, families, seniors, and all the keen skiers and riders whose ski season has been disrupted by this fire. Also, we can’t help but think of the impact this is having on the businesses, and the employees of those businesses, including ours, who depend on tourism and the operation of the ski resort, and who are suffering because of this fire.

Despite this major setback we have seen so many examples over the last few weeks of the strength and resiliency of our community and those who come to ski and ride in Kimberley. It is already becoming clear that an act like this will only work to bring us closer together and will in the end make us stronger as a community.

Please know that our main focus will be to continue to operate the resort and to provide access to the mountain by way of our other four working lifts and the snowcat shuttles (thank you again to Revelstoke and Kicking Horse Mountain Resorts!). The snow has been falling almost continuously since the fire and the quality of skiing and riding is proving to be well worth a hike to the backside chairlifts.

In addition to the ongoing skiing and riding product, there are so many additional reasons for guests to come to holiday in Kimberley this winter, including Nordic skiing, fat biking, snowshoeing, up-tracking, visiting the great restaurants and other businesses in town, including live music and après ski in the Stemwinder Bar & Grill, and access to all the great accommodation, hot tubs, etc. at the resort and in town. Please do your best to support local businesses whenever you can.

Our other main focus at this time is of course on getting the Northstar Quad Chair up and running as soon as we can. After a huge effort by KAR and RCR technical staff and our industry partners it is becoming clear that due to the extent of the damage and the worldwide availability of parts and components that the Quad chair will not be running again this winter.

There will be information coming out this week for anybody looking to defer their pass to next year or to request a refund. There will be no fee for asking for a deferral or refund, but please remember that any uses on your pass will be deducted from the value of your pass at the day ticket price of the days you used the pass.
We look forward to seeing you up at the resort soon!

Ted Funston and the KAR & RCR Team

The snowcat shuttle operation is in its second week now, and so we thought we would send out an update on the service, including announcing an adapted reservation system for seniors, families with young children, and those with mobility challenges.

We are pleased to see that hundreds and hundreds of people have been able to successfully book and/or walk up and get on standby and get rides to the top of the mountain.

Due to the snowcats’ big popularity we do however acknowledge that the seats book out very quickly every night at 6 pm, which can be a frustration. We encourage you to keep trying, or to just show up and ride on standby, especially considering that our busier holiday period is getting behind us, and midweeks will be slower as kids will be going back to school soon. We are open to any feedback you have on the system or on the cat rides themselves.

As we have said from the beginning, we ask those who are able to walk to the back side to please give priority to guests who are not able to do so.

Related to this we have had a lot of feedback that seniors (65+), families with young children, and those with mobility challenges have had difficulty gaining access to the cats, and some of our older skiers are finding it difficult to navigate the online booking system. So to help them going forward we will be giving priority booking on two cats daily for these groups.

The general service guidelines for this service will be as follows:

· The first reserved cat will go out at 8:40 am, and the 2nd at 12:20 pm.

· Please e-mail our Guest Services team at over65under13@skikimberley.com any time up to 3 pm during the day on the day before you would like a snowcat ride up.

· From the emails that have come in we will randomly choose 24 guests to get those reserved spots. This will effectively work like a lottery. But please only send one email per day.

· In the email please include your first and last name and age and the same info of others in your party, plus the time you would prefer to go up, either 8:40 am or 12:20 pm. Your preferred time slot can also be in your email subject line.

· Maximum 4 guests per reservation request.

· Seniors will be able to include other seniors in their group.

· For families a parent can ride with up to 3 children, and a child can ride with up to two parents. To keep families together, children over 12 can be included, but at least one child in the group needs to be 12 or under.

· Please do not call Guest Services to book. All reservations will go through the e-mail system.

· As with all shuttles a valid season pass or lift ticket is required to ride the snowcat shuttle

· We will email those that were successful for the next day by 4:30 pm. So if you haven’t received an email by then please feel free to make an online booking at 6 pm.

· Friday, January 7th is the first day we will be taking reservations this way for rides on Saturday, January 8th.

· We will just go day by day for now to test out how this system works. Please let us know your feedback.

Click here to book a spot on the snowcat. All other seats become available every night at 6pm for the next day.

We wanted to provide another update on our resort operations with the North Star Quad Chair currently being inoperable due to the fire in the lift control building.

We continue to assist the RCMP, Fire Department, and other authorities in their investigations.

Most of our efforts right now are focused on getting skiers and riders access to the mountain and working to make your holiday time at the resort as fun and memorable as possible!

Some of these efforts include:
– We have been able to secure a few people-mover snowcats to help lift guests up to the backside, included in the price of their lift ticket or season pass. We would like to thank our friends at Revelstoke Mountain Resort and Kicking Horse Mountain Resort for offering cats to help us in this cause. We are working to have this service in place for December 26th. Please check back for more details in the coming days.
– We are now offering a ski and snowboard delivery service up the Ridgeway to the backside every day 8:30 am to 1: 30pm. Maps and instructions of how to get to the backside are available in Guest Services 250-427-4881 and on our website.
– Chad Jensen of New Dawn Development brought a crew up to help us build a tent village on the top of the Easter Chair. The two larger tents were provided by Ken Bridge of Bridge Interiors, and will be heated by heaters provided by New Dawn. We want to thank these local business leaders for really stepping up to help us, and everyone, out!
– We are starting to build a rail park tonight below the bridge and between the Quad Base Station and the Magic Carpet. This is going to be open during the day and during night skiing nights under the lights.
– We are proceeding with the installation of lights on the T-bar to provide night skiing through the holidays and into the winter starting December 26th. New Dawn Development has offered help on these lights as well.
– We have a full roster of fun family Christmas activities in the base and around the resort through Christmas week! Please check out the schedule here.
– We plan to have the family skating rink and a fire pit in the base available through the Christmas week.
– We will be offering live music through the holiday week in the Stemwinder Bar & Grill. Please check the events calendar for acts and dates.
– Kootenay Haus will be open starting tomorrow as a place to get warm so that you don’t have to come all the way back down.

We appreciate all the feedback we have been getting on our adapted resort operating plan and we encourage you to let us know how we can serve you better during these times.

RCR and KAR’s maintenance experts have been in constant contact with the lift manufacturer, and they are putting a plan together to get the Quad Chair up and operating as soon as possible. The fire completely demolished the lift control building, along with all the specialized electronic equipment that runs the lift, and so the difficult reality is that it is going to take some time to get the lift operating again, most likely measured in months rather than weeks.

We know that some season pass holders have questions about their ski passes, so an email communication with your options will be sent to you shortly.
It has been snowing quite a bit in the last few days, and all of the base area facilities are open and operating, as is much of the mountain, so we hope to see you up here enjoying your holidays!

Ted Funston and the KAR Team

We wanted to provide another update on our resort operations with the North Star Quad Chair currently being inoperable due to the fire in the lift control building.

We continue to assist the RCMP, Fire Department, and other authorities in their investigations.

Most of our efforts right now are focused on getting skiers and riders access to the mountain and working to make your holiday time at the resort as fun and memorable as possible!

Some of these efforts include:
– We have been able to secure a few people-mover snowcats to help lift guests up to the backside, included in the price of their lift ticket or season pass. We would like to thank our friends at Revelstoke Mountain Resort and Kicking Horse Mountain Resort for offering cats to help us in this cause. We are working to have this service in place for December 26th. Please check back for more details in the coming days.
– We are now offering a ski and snowboard delivery service up the Ridgeway to the backside every day 8:30 am to 1: 30pm. Maps and instructions of how to get to the backside are available in Guest Services 250-427-4881 and on our website.
– Chad Jensen of New Dawn Development brought a crew up to help us build a tent village on the top of the Easter Chair. The two larger tents were provided by Ken Bridge of Bridge Interiors, and will be heated by heaters provided by New Dawn. We want to thank these local business leaders for really stepping up to help us, and everyone, out!
– We are starting to build a rail park tonight below the bridge and between the Quad Base Station and the Magic Carpet. This is going to be open during the day and during night skiing nights under the lights.
– We are proceeding with the installation of lights on the T-bar to provide night skiing through the holidays and into the winter starting December 26th. New Dawn Development has offered help on these lights as well.
– We have a full roster of fun family Christmas activities in the base and around the resort through Christmas week! Please check out the schedule here.
– We plan to have the family skating rink and a fire pit in the base available through the Christmas week.
– We will be offering live music through the holiday week in the Stemwinder Bar & Grill. Please check the events calendar for acts and dates.
– Kootenay Haus will be open starting tomorrow as a place to get warm so that you don’t have to come all the way back down.

We appreciate all the feedback we have been getting on our adapted resort operating plan and we encourage you to let us know how we can serve you better during these times.

RCR and KAR’s maintenance experts have been in constant contact with the lift manufacturer, and they are putting a plan together to get the Quad Chair up and operating as soon as possible. The fire completely demolished the lift control building, along with all the specialized electronic equipment that runs the lift, and so the difficult reality is that it is going to take some time to get the lift operating again, most likely measured in months rather than weeks.

We know that some season pass holders have questions about their ski passes, so an email communication with your options will be sent to you shortly.
It has been snowing quite a bit in the last few days, and all of the base area facilities are open and operating, as is much of the mountain, so we hope to see you up here enjoying your holidays!

Ted Funston and the KAR Team

Update on the situation with the Northstar Quad Chair and our resort operations:
This is to confirm that at approximately 3:00 am on Saturday, December 18, a fire broke out and destroyed the lift control building adjacent to the upper terminal of the North Star Express lift, the main ski lift on the front side of the Kimberley Alpine Resort. We are relieved to report that no one was hurt in the fire.

The Kimberley Fire Department and the RCMP responded immediately and are currently actively investigating the cause of the fire. We are assisting and supporting their investigation in any way we can.

As soon as the seriousness of the incident became clear our thoughts immediately turned to all the families, children, and other keen skiers and riders who we love and who would be losing access to the mountain via the Northstar Quad chair until we can get it fixed again.

Our hearts also go out to everyone in Kimberley who makes a living dependent on tourism and the operation of the ski resort, including the owners of many of the businesses in town, and the great staff who work for them.

Thank you for all the kind words of support you are providing, and the offerings of help many of the businesses in the region have come to us with. We’ve seen so many examples over the last few days of why we all love Kimberley!

Please know that our main focus right now is continuing to give locals and visitors access to the great skiing and riding up there, and to make visiting the resort as fun and enjoyable as we can. These are some of the initiatives that we currently have underway for the holidays:
– Offering a ski/snowboard delivery service by snowmobile up the Ridgeway Road for those who choose to walk to the backside
– Adding night lights to the Owl T-bar so that the long tradition of night skiing in Kimberley can continue
– Looking for an alternative location for the rail park, possibly in the base area
– Getting the Easter top BBQ going again
– And providing the Kootenay Haus to give guests access to a warm building without having to come back to the base area
– Plus events and activities in the base including the skating rink to create family fun

While this has been a difficult blow for all our staff, please know that we are feeling energized and excited to do the best we can for you.
Our other main focus of course is getting the Quad chair up running again as soon as we possibly can. We are working hard to source any parts we can from around the world to try to replace what was lost. We will keep you updated when we have an idea of the possible timelines.

Thank you for all your support. The riding’s really good up there from the recent snow, there’s lots more snow in the forecast, and so we hope to see you up on the mountain soon!

Ted Funston and the KAR Team

New season, new systems!
How to smooth out your first day on the slopes.

Well, here we are! 

We’ve made it to another ski season during a pandemic, and while some regulations will stay the same as last season, we are also dealing with a few new ones. Here are some guidelines to help make your first day out in the mountains as smooth as possible for you and your family.

Request your Season Pass or Direct to Lift Card in advance

If you have purchased a season pass, you should have received an email requesting your upload your QR code/proof of immunization online. Please upload your information and request your pass be sent to you as soon as possible. Ensuring your pass gets into our printing queue as soon as possible allows you the best chance of receiving your pass ahead of your first visit. If you have not received your email requesting proof of immunization, please feel free to reach out to our guest services team to request one by emailing information@skircr.com. If you have requested your pass but have not received it before your first day, you will need to visit the resort Guest Services building to receive a day ticket and show proof of immunization.  If you are having problems with our system accepting your Proof of Immunization please refer to our FAQ’s to find out why.

Mind our Know Before you Go updates

While many of our guidelines have stayed the same, a key update this season is the requirement to be fully vaccinated to access our resort lifts and facilities. Please refer to the information above on how to provide this ahead of your visit.

Bring your QR Code on your first few visits

To ensure we have record of your information, we encourage you to have your QR Code and government-issued photo id with you on your first few trips. If you purchase day tickets, you will need to show proof of immunization when picking up your lift tickets each time you visit.

Limit your baggage and prepare for a few lineups

We will not be allowing bags to be stored unattended in our daylodge or common areas. Please ensure you’re leaving any unnecessary baggage in your car or purchase a locker. While requiring proof of immunization should help alleviate some lineups at our lifts and facilities, please note that some people may still choose to stay distanced from others; we ask you to respect the wishes of those around you.

Be kind

As always, we ask you to be kind to our fellow guests and also our staff. Please realize our front-line staff are working hard to ensure you enjoy your experience and share your passion for the mountains. Let’s all work together to make our mountain experience an enjoyable one.

Well our 2019 selves would have never thought our 2020 selves would be in this position, but here we are.  The return of another winter season brings us to a new era of winter activities – the social distanced type of activities.  While skiing and snowboarding is a great way to get outdoors, enjoy the mountains and keep our social bubbles intact, there are a variety of other outdoor activities to enjoy in our communities as well.

To top it off, we’ve done the research for you and put together some recommendations;

Fat Biking around Trickle Creek Golf Resort

Fat Biking is one winter sport that just keeps on rising in popularity.  At Kimberley Alpine Resort you can take a guided Fat Bike tour around Trickle Creek Golf Resort by staying in your social cohort.  Your tour is topped off by sitting around a fir and enjoying S’mores.  The quintessential winter day!

Shop, Hang and Drink Local

Kimberley is home to a quaint pedestrian platzl located right in the heart of the town. Visit the inside and outside of this block not only for some great Instagram worthy selfie ops but also for local restaurants and shops with an unmistakable alpine vibe.  Stop into The Shed for a laid back restaurant and bar with delicious worldly food creations and eclectic rotating beer selection. Check out the Arrow & Axe General store to find tried and testing outdoor and camping gear as well as ‘good vibes’ jewelry, outdoor fashion and local products.  Pop over to Overtime Beerworks to sample the lagers, pales and ales from the only local brewery in Kimberley (outdoor seating available).  But that’s not all, when looking at the platzl on google maps you’ll see a whole smattering of spots in one little area to explore all day long.

Snowshoe with Fondue & Night Skiing

Being a resort with night skiing, our running chairlift and lit up ski run provide the unique opportunity to enjoy the mountain by night.  If you’re not into skiing under the lights and the stars (and even if you are and just want to mix things up a bit), take a fondue snowshoe tour.  Wind through the forest atop the mountain under the stars, work up that appetite to enjoy a spread of fruits and pastries to dip in the chocolate fondue pot in the cozy warmth on our mountain top Kootenay Haus.