FALL/WINTER2016
MLCM
49
words :: Cameron Fenton
Somany aspects of life in the mountains are
affected by theweather, but few, if any, depend on
a specific season and climate the way skiing and
snowboarding do
-
winter sports require winter.
That sounds a bit simplistic, but the reality
is disconcerting. According to Environment
Canada, the average annual temperature
across the country has warmed by 1.6 degrees
Celsius since 1948. More locally, data from
the University of British Columbia shows
that average winter temperatures in the
southern Coast Mountains rose around 1.5
degrees Celsius between 1901 and 2009, while
precipitation dropped by between 200 and 400
millimetres over the same stretch of time. In the
Coast Mountains, this has meant, on average,
warmer and dryer winters. Which alsomeans
more of the precipitation that does fall, is
coming down as rain instead of snow.
Despite this, winter sports in the Coast
Mountains are on the rise, and in January 2016,
the $3.5 billion Garibaldi at Squamish (GAS)
resort proposal was granted an environmental
assessment certificate by the British Columbia
government. During the review, it was noted that
the GAS proposal hadn’t factored in the potential
impacts of climate change, and while the
certificate lays out 40 conditions for the project,
climate change is considered “outside the scope
of the assessment.”
While many Sea-to-Sky locals ponder how
winter can be an afterthought for a ski resort,
industry reaction towards GAS has also been
mixed. In a June 2015 interviewwithWhistler’s
Pique Newsmagazine
, Jeff Lynn, CEO of the
300-member
CanadaWest Ski Area
Association, expressed doubts about GAS’s
viability in a climate-changed future. “We have
to look forward,” he said. “What resort should
you be approving
today in order to
have a strong ski
industry 50 years
from now?”
Whether Garibaldi at Squamishwill fit that bill, or
ever be built, remains to be seen, but there’s no
denying Coast Mountains ski resorts are feeling,
and dealingwith, the reality of climate change.
IFWINTERSTOPS
COMING
CLIMATECHANGE,THEGARIBALDIATSQUAMISHPROPOSAL&
THEFUTUREOFCOASTMOUNTAINSKIINGANDSNOWBOARDING
“Fourteen of the hottest years on record have occurred
since 2000.” –World UNMeteorological Organization
LOW
RES
Futureopeningday? MARKWARNER
ENVIRONMENT
