SUN PEAKS CENTRE ON HOLD PAGE 2
CROSSFIT GYM SET TO OPEN PAGE 15
SEPTEMBER 1—9 Showers, cool
SEPTEMBER 10—16 Rainy periods, seasonable
SEPTEMBER 17—27 Sunny, mild
SEPTEMBER 28—30 Showers, cool
OCTOBER 1—5
Rainy periods, seasonable
VOLUME 13 ISSUE 9
@sunpeaksnews
SEPTEMBER 4—OCTOBER 1
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Morrisey terrain
gets set for winter with the Laundromat theme. Meertens praised the work of Barney Mouat, outside operaith the summer season tions director for SPR, and his drawing to a close, SPIN crew, for the amount of work took a ride with Sun Peaks Re- they have accomplished across sort LLP (SPR) mountain opera- Mt. Morrisey, particularly on the tions manager, Erik Meertens, to new runs. check out the work taking place Run C — located closer to Lint on Mt. Morrisey over the last Trap — is nearing completion, and two months. Meertens is fairly confident it will Our first stop was the top of be ready to go for the opening of the mountain, where many chairs the season. The run shares simihave been removed from the lar characteristics to the other chairlift for the non-destructive West Morrisey runs, with plenty testing (NDT) of steepness for those program. looking for a challenge. “ B a s i c a l l y, Moving on to Run B — “We’ll definitely have a percentage the run closer to Static them open for skiing Cling — Meertens conof chairs have much earlier than they fesses there is still to be taken off were last season” every chairwork to be done. lift, and crews “Looking at it perform NDT, from here, I don’t testing for things like fatigue,” think it will be completed. Our Meertens said. window of workable weather From there, we move on to is shrinking.” check out the ski trails. Last Depending on the condition year’s new runs, Lint Trap and of the run, Meertens said it may Tumble Dry, have had further be opened with caution signs, work done, particularly on the or it may remain closed for top sections. the season. “We’ll definitely have them The extreme incline of the run open for skiing much earlier than is a major logistical factor, causthey were last season,” Meertens ing slow progress for the logging said. “We’re very confident that crews. On certain pitches, logging the majority of trails will be ready machinery is not permitted to opfor the season.” erate and much of it has to be Our next stops are the two new logged by hand. runs currently under develop“It’s not conventional logment, known internally as Run ging,” Meertens said. “It’s B and C. While no official names have been announced, Meertens CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 said it’s likely they will continue by CALE HILL
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Weathering the weather Almost every run on Mt. Morrisey has been machinebrushed, with hand-brushing crews expected over the coming weeks to tidy up any hard-to-reach sections. Extra brushing is also occurring on Tod Mountain, with Crystal Run and Crystal Lift Line a priority. The increased brushing should see Sun Peaks in good position in the event of another low-snowfall winter. “There have been predictions of a warm and wet winter,” Meertens said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a worry for us. We’re not talking three or four degrees, more like decimal
points of a degree warmer. For the coastal resorts, it could be disastrous, but we will still get our cold snaps and our early season snow,” he said. Meertens said weather in summer had also been “surprisingly good.” Despite level four drought conditions in the region, Meertens said Sun Peaks had avoided the worst of the weather, and the snowmaking reservoir was full and ready to go. While other areas of B.C. faced fire bans, the weather rating in Sun Peaks was never classed as extreme which allowed more time for machines to work on the mountain