The community of Terrace, British Columbia, has taken a purist's approach to the ski season the last few years, forming My Mountain Co-op, Canada's first nonprofit ski community cooperative, a no-frills outfit where amenities are secondary to the sport itself.
A group of local residents and businesses had been raising money to buy Shames Mountain, about 20 miles west of Terrace, since 2010, and in January they succeeded, The Guardian reported. Now instead of leasing the mountain to offer lift services and runs, each member owns a little bit of the mountain.
"We don't have fast chairs or fast tow bars, but we have world-class skiing, a huge amount of snow, and it's beautiful here," David Jephson, a member of the cooperative, told The Guardian, which reported the mountain's average yearly accumulation at 480 inches.
The cooperative operates only two chairlifts, one tow bar and a modest lodge for food and beverage sales and equipment rentals. Overhead is kept low with a small paid staff for operations and volunteers to perform maintenance. The closest accommodations can be found in Terrace, and Vancouver is a 17-hour drive away (nonstop flights are an hour and 45 minutes).
But what it lacks in hotels and restaurants is made up for with reasonable lift prices (an adult day pass is 50 Canadian dollars; rental packages start at 34 dollars) and a lack of crowds on its 28 runs, spanning 141 acres. Even the Shames Express, a yellow school bus that takes skiers and their gear from Terrace to the mountain, is just 10 dollars round trip.
Though the group would like to open more runs eventually, and perhaps add a few rental cabins on the mountain, the main goal now is just to build a base of customers, April Rivard, an administrator for the cooperative, said in a telephone phone interview. "We need to get those skiers first," she said.
Air Canada has helped by increasing the number of flights from Vancouver to Terrace to 34 a week, The Guardian reported. And WestJet began similar service this week.
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