New mountain opens just before X-mas

REVELSTOKE, B.C. — Everything remains on schedule for the Dec. 22 opening of Revelstoke Mountain Resort. The ski area is to have the longest vertical run in North America, about 7,000 feet.

Revelstoke is located along the Columbia River, about 400 miles from Vancouver and 260 miles from Calgary.

Don Simpson, the Denver-based principal developer, told the Revelstoke Times Review that $75 million has been invested so far, with another $50 million committed by next spring.

The first 59 condos sold immediately, and later this month the project will put 25 single-family home lots onto the market. Of them, five will be permitted to have private helipads. Listed prices are $650,000 to $1.5 million.

Officials crabby about bears

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — It was a dry, dry winter, and now it has been a desperate year for bears in the Lake Tahoe-Truckee area. Some 69 bears have been killed on the area’s highways this year, and human encounters with bears are higher than at any time in the past two decades.

At a special meeting between state wildlife and local officials, reports the Sierra Sun, there was agreement on the need for tightening enforcement of laws about garbage, but there is no “appetite to kill” bears to curb break-ins, said a county supervisor, Bruce Kranz.

In Wyoming’s Jackson Hole, wildlife officials are calling for local officials to mandate certified bear-proof garbage containers. Bear-proof cans are significantly more secure than wildlife-resistant containers. The proposal goes before Teton County commissioners next week.

More Aussies invited to Canada

WHISTLER, B.C. — Restrictions on Australians who work in Whistler have been loosened, to the cheers of employers. An estimated 2,000 Australians work in Whistler each year.

The Canadian government has expanded holiday visas to make them valid for two years instead of one. The federal government also increased the cap on visas allotted Australians each year and Whistler is expected to be a primary beneficiary, reports Pique.

In addition, the process for hiring temporary foreign workers for specified jobs, such as ski instructor, has been streamlined. Previously, employers had to prove that they had conducted a cross-country search, without success. Now, employers are told to expect a decision within a week.

But Bob Barnett, the newspaper's editor, warns that these loosened restrictions are not the whole answer for Whistler's labor shortage. Still to be solved is where to put the employees once they are found.