Province reviewing cat-ski hill lodge proposed for southern Monashees

The B.C. government is reviewing plans for a proposed cat-ski hill in the Midway range of the Southern Monashee mountains.

The adventure tourism company Powder Renegade Lodge (PRL) submitted “formal applications” to the ministry of forests on Nov. 3, according to a spokesperson.

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PRL is requesting a 30-year lease and licences of occupation for roughly 9,000 hectares of land starting at the 51-kilometre mark of Christian Valley Road, according to the company’s tenure management plan, dated Oct. 16. PRL said it hopes to market downhill ski excursions to clients shuttled up the mountain via a tracked “snowcat.”

The going rate for cat-skiing in B.C. is between $1,000 and $1,500 per day, according to the company’s research.

Snowcats would access PRL’s operation using forest roads currently licenced to the logging company Interfor as well as BC Timber Sales and the Selkirk Forest District. Using existing forest roads would minimize the operation’s environmental impact, according to the plan.

The company has identified eight First Nations with potential or proven land claims to the area, with whom PRL said it hopes to “work together through a co-operative sense of sharing, and in a collectively beneficial manner.”

PRL is owned and operated by Cassandra and Kerry Penney, who live in Kelowna. The Penneys declined to be interviewed.

The ministry is considering public comments submitted to the Crown Land Applications’ website until Jan. 16.

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