South Anderson Mountain Resort has joined the growing list of new ski resort and scenic gondola proposals in British Columbia. This week Spuzzum First Nation Chief James Hobart detailed plans for the indigenous-owned and operated mountain resort north of Hope. The site sits two hours east of Metro Vancouver and 40 miles north of the Washington State border along existing logging roads.
Spuzzum First Nation would like to build a four season resort primarily to provide jobs and financial opportunities for its members. The band “aims to create an exceptional all-season mountain resort that will allow visitors to experience the beauty and recreation opportunities in the Cascade Mountains in an environmentally responsible manner.”
Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners of Whistler developed the concept for a mid-sized resort capable of accommodating 9,000 skiers per day. Five lifts would be built in phase one with 11 lifts by phase three. Westernmost phase one lies on Wolverine Track Peak where a base-to-summit combination lift would carry 3,000 guests per hour. This would be the largest lift at the ski area with a vertical rise of 2,215 feet. Phase one would also include two six packs, a fixed grip quad and platter lift. Phase two would see a third six pack built on Winters End Peak along with two short connector quads. Finally, a fourth six pack would be constructed on Iago Peak, topping out at an elevation of 1,730 meters or 5,676 feet. A bi-directional quad chair would be required to connect Iago Peak to Winters End Peak that would feature a mid-loading station in the valley between the two mountains.
The resort would cater primarily to guests from the Lower Mainland but also Western Washington with a total drive to population nearing 3.1 million. Vancouver and Seattle are currently adding about 100,000 people per year and a study showed increased population in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley alone will generate an additional 329,000 skier visits for local mountain resorts by 2032. South Anderson Mountain Resort would be designed to host around 150,000 skier visits its first season and up to 400,000 in year ten.
While British Columbia is much more accommodating to resort development than Washington State, numerous proposals have come and gone without being funded or built. Garibaldi at Squamish, a megaresort proposed near Whistler, recently fell into receivership. Whistler Blackcomb itself has an ambitious master plan to expand west that Vail Resorts has yet to start. Two competing propoents are vying to build on crown land near Chilliwack – the Cascade Skyline Gondola and Bridal Veil Mountain Resort. Nearby Sasquatch Mountain Resort has approval for a $1.5 billion expansion that has yet to get off the ground. Elsewhere in British Columbia, Valemount Glacier and Jumbo Glacier both fizzled in recent years.
The Province of British Columbia is expected to review the Spuzzum First Nation’s initial Expression of Interest and make a positive or negative recommendation in the coming months.
Lift Blog 
Hey Peter, what would you think about potentially adding forums to this site? Liftblog is the only American ski lift site that is still active, and I think it would be pretty cool. For example, if you went to Europe and wanted to share photos of a cool lift that you saw, you could post a forum page about it, or maybe if you had a ski lift related question. What does everyone else think?
LikeLike
Do we know how many acres this is supposed to be?
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/south-anderson-ski-resort-bc-spuzzam-first-nation
Another news source said “the proposed regulated Controlled Recreation Area size is 18,320 acres (7,415 hectares) within the South Anderson and Central Anderson valleys.
The ski terrain itself would span 815 acres (330 hectares) across three mountains — Iago, Winters End, and Wolverine Track”
its just that 815 acres seems awfully small compared to any resort in the west.
LikeLike
I would be very excited to see this built. Any project that adds expand our ads new ski runs within reasonable distance to Seattle as much needed
LikeLike
Not high enough elevation. How much rain vs snow has fallen there this year ?
LikeLike
I agree. Ski resorts that are proposed at low elevations should not be approved. They must be forecasting these lower elevations to not support year round snow with temperatures rising every year due to the effects of global warming. The risk of a closure should be considered in the proposal as the development will cause considerable environmental damage, which will take decades (or more time) to normalize again.
LikeLike
Elevation seems a concern with winters warming a bit.
LikeLike
Not a fan of having to take transfer lifts between mountains.
LikeLike
Will be interesting to see how where the roads go to get here. Would be so much easier if they just had a base on Hwy 5 with a gondola going up and over – would probably save 30 mins of travel time.
LikeLike
Like most of the recent BC proposals, this one is far too low in elevation. Only Cayoosh and Jumbo are high enough
https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/piquen-yer-interest/opinion-why-cayoosh-and-jumbo-glacier-ski-resorts-failed-7280898
LikeLike
January atmospheric rivers like the one forecast for this weekend could be problematic if they become more frequent.
LikeLike
The base elevation of 1000m is too low.
Mt Jarvis is a better option than Anderson or Bridal.
Run a gondola from the valley floor to access the three bowls. Lowest lift elevation of 1350m for better snow surety.
Views to Hope for sightseeing.
Easy access for commuters.
LikeLike