New Whitewater Lift Towers Toward Completion

   History Made: Fernie-based lift veterans install lift line for BC resort’s highly anticipated new 2,041-foot Glory Ridge Triple ChairThanks to one of British Columbia’s biggest helicopters and a heap of hustle, Canadian ski history was made at Whitewater Ski Resort, near Nelson B.C., this week.The crew from Fernie-based Summit Lift Company launched the final and most impressive stage of the 2,042 vertical-foot chair’s installation Tuesday and Wednesday. With the assistance of a circa 1963 twin-blade Columbia Vertol helicopter—a chopper with four-and-a-half tonnes (10,000 lbs.) of carrying capacity—a team of eight Summit technicians affixed the chair’s 19 towers in a little over nine hours, under perfect blue autumn skies.“It’s a history-making event,” said Whitewater Outdoor Operations Manager Kirk Jensen Wednesday. “It was hard to believe it was going to happen, but here it is only a few months after we started construction in July.”The Glory Chair, on track for completion by the end of 2010, is Whitewater’s first new lift in 17 years, and the sixth lift in the mountain’s 34-year history. Five new runs have already been cut and gladed. At full build-out the lift will open 303 hectares (749 acres) of new expert and intermediate terrain, doubling Whitewater’s current size.According to Summit owner Randy Gliege, given the fact the lift will make Whitewater twice as big—a rare happening in winter resort development—the triple chair is a remarkable undertaking, done in typically authentic Whitewater style.“I’m really pleased Whitewater and its new owners stepped up and fast-tracked the project,” says Gliege, who’s supervised the construction of dozens of lifts across Canada and the US over the past 25 years. “We’ve installed it in roughly half the amount of time it would normally have taken for a chair this size.”Summit’s claims to fame are considerable. The company was featured in National Geographic TV’s “World Toughest Fixes” this spring, following a particularly demanding lift installation in Wyoming. In another legendary effort, the BC-based company also constructed two gondolas, a 12-person tram and a quad at Snow Basin, Utah, just in time for Salt Lake City’s Winter Olympics in 2002.Even compared to Summit’s other renowned accomplishments, the Glory Ridge Chair, says Gliege, is extraordinary.“This is pretty special for me. It’s the biggest fixed grip I’ve built in vertical rise. I fondly refer to it as The Elevator,” Gliege smiles.The lift-line itself—nearly twice as long, wide and just as steep as Whitewater’s famed Blast, beneath the Summit double, “is going to be a real leg burner,” says Jensen. “It’ll separate the shredders from the pretenders,” says the former ski movie star, an employee at the hill for the past 18-years.”Combined with the incredible new gladed terrain set to open in less than two months, Whitewater General Manager Brian Cusack says the resort’s famously deep snow will make for a remarkable skiing and snowboarding experience.“We’re offering Canada’s best lift-serviced deep powder skiing,” says Cusack.Media Contacts: Anne Pigeon, Whitewater Ski Resort VP Operations of Marketing 1-250-354-4944 , Gliege, Summit Lifts, 1-250-423-1255,