It’s been another busy summer for Whitewater Ski Resort.
With the addition of the Glory Ridge Chair, the resort’s skiable terrain doubled last season. Now it’s upping food service capacity and expanding the parking lot to keep pace with growth on the mountain.
Whitewater’s new 24-foot food truck is expected to roll into Nelson next week. The truck was ordered custom made from a company in California.
“We’ll have it parked outside our new office at 602 Lake Street during the off season, and for ski season it will be at the base of Glory in a new post-and-beam shelter we built for it,” said marketing and operations general manager Anne Pigeon.
The truck, affectionately named Pow Chow, will offer menu items from Fresh Tracks Cafe and be outfitted with an espresso machine to brew up Oso Negro coffee beans.
Nelsonites will no longer have to wait for the hill to open to get their favourite Whitewater grub — the food truck will serve it year round. In addition to being stationed in front of Whitewater’s downtown office, the truck will also travel to community events and festivals.
“I’ll be able to hire five or six more people to work year round, which is a huge plus for the community,” Pigeon said.
Meanwhile up at the ski hill, construction is underway for a parking lot expansion that will add 100 new parking spaces. Parking lots A and B will be connected to allow drivers to circle through the lots without turning around.
“It will make it a lot easier for skier drop off,” Pigeon said. “Our regular patrons know the parking lot has been a bit of a frustration for years.”
As well, inside the lodge the table service area near the bar has been expanded to accommodate 40 more seats.
“We’ve blown out a couple of the walls and repositioned the bar, so it’s much brighter and warmer and a lot more inviting,” Pigeon said.
Finally, three new runs have been added through the old growth forest on the Glory side.
“There’s some logging that’s gone on in there that’s really opened it up,” said Pigeon. “It’s such a pretty, pretty place where the new runs are going in, and it has a really nice fall line, so skiers will get a straight shot from top to bottom then just get on the lift.”
Whitewater season passes are on sale now with early bird rates offered until September 30. For more information see skiwhitewater.com.
