Orthopedic Surgeon Outlines the Science Behind Shin Bang | Causes, Treatment, Prevention

Shin bang is not sorcery, it’s science. | Photo courtesy Ski Mag

You know, shin bang—that horrid, painful sensation on your shinbone that you get from your boot after skiing hard? Yes, you do.

Although die-hard ski racers in 1 million flex alpine race boots that they can barely walk in might tell you otherwise, shin bang is a real force to reckon with on (and off) the mountain every ski season. And there’s a science behind it.

That’s why SnowBrains reached out to Orthopedic surgeon Dr. William H. Montgomery, III, MD with the Dignity Health Medical Foundation in San Francisco, Calif. to find out what the heck is going on in our ski boots that make our shins hurt so damn bad sometimes, especially after we get new boots.

• Related: The SnowBrains Podcast | Episode #3 | “Everything You Need To Know About ACL Injury, Surgery, & Recovery”

This image shows the tibia and shin in relation to where shin bang can occur. | Photo courtesy Orthoinfo

So what exactly is shin bang, and what causes it? 

According to Dr. Montgomery (who is an avid skier and has had BAD shin bang before), shin bang is a type of contusion on your tibia’s periosteum, which is “like saran wrap that wraps around your bone, and is really super sensitive,” he said in a phone interview. Most of the time, this contusion to your periosteum is caused by your shin consistently slamming against the top part of your ski boot due to the very small gap that often exists between your shin and your boot liner.

And it freaking hurts. 

After sharing his personal experiences with shin bang and describing the medical language associated with it, Dr. Montgomery outlined potential treatments for shin bang. He said that

“prevention is the cure but the treatment is different,”

meaning that the best way to treat shin bang is to avoid it entirely by having the best possible fit for your ski boots. The solution? Going to an experienced boot fitter and purchasing custom liners.

A good boot fitter will mold custom ski boot liners to the contour of your feet and shins, eliminating any potential gap between the liner and your shin that could cause shin bang. Dr. Montgomery also said that you should put a kind of gel or cork pad—or even a piece of a foam beer koozie—in between your liner and your leg to provide a soft cushion for your already miserable shin.

If it’s too late and you are already experiencing full-on shin bang, even with a good fitting boot (which can still happen as a result of charging hard), then icing, ibuprofen, and rest are likely your best bets.

“There is absolutely nothing more miserable than having painful feet and legs when your skiing. It absolutely stinks,” Dr. Montgomery said. “You need a good boot fitter!”

Shin bang is not sorcery, it’s science. Keep your shins safe this season!

Avoid shin bang at all costs this season! | Photo courtesy globosurfer.com

A warrior dies and the forest cries

I remember vividly the night the Cochise warrior died.

The elk bugled and the coyotes howled in the forest just beyond town. They cried like I've never heard before from the quiet deck at my father's house. 

Perhaps the sorrow in the region was so powerfully felt that night that it rose into the star-studded sky above like a palpable scent, drifting with the wind and through the trees. 

Maybe even the forest creatures could smell the pain that floated in the sharp mountain air.

And in that same air, a sensation of beauty revealed itself—one that is always there but rarely seen outside of moments like these. 

Ruidoso, New Mexico's Best Skier Dies in Tragic Accident: Fundraiser Organized to Help Family

The late and great Alex Robert Davis: December 25, 1999 — September 21, 2020. | Photo courtesy Martin Kuprianowicz

It's never a good day when you've learned you just outlived your brother.

But it was always a good day with Alex Davis. 

Because I think if life had a flavor it'd be bittersweet. 

Bitter, when you're living in a world where you can't go skiing with your brother anymore or do all the things you loved doing with him. 

But sweet when you think about all those incredible memories and good times you were lucky enough to have shared with him. 

Sweet, when you see people come together in such a beautiful way in the face of such a great tragedy. 

And even sweeter when you know the bond shared by Alex's brothers and yourself has only grown firmer and will continue to do so. 

Because it's all up from here — that's the way you go to get to the top of the mountain. 

Alex understood this better than anybody I've ever met. 

And so we will all just have to meet him there, where he'll be waiting — eager and smiling. 

I wrote that poem an hour before I spoke at Alex's funeral. Until last week, Alex had been Ruidoso, New Mexico's best skier. Everyone here knows this. He was killed tragically on September 21, 2020, in an accident. He was my best friend whom I call my brother and my favorite person to ski with in this bittersweet world.

 

"All Day" Alex Davis doing what he does best in Apache Bowl at Ski Apache, New Mexico! | Photo courtesy Alex Davis

I first met Alex Robert Davis over a basket of chicken strips at Ski Apache's cafe at the base of the mountain when I was about 12 years old. He couldn't have been more than about four feet tall at the time and had the same shit-eating-grin that stayed engraved on his face until his final days.

More than a lifetime's worth of skiing with Alex and his beautiful brother Israel is what followed after meeting this incredible human over a decade ago. We skied together every winter as much as we could. We felt like we owned our humble, sometimes powder-charged home mountain of Ski Apache. The snow-induced friendships we made along the way quickly turned into brotherhoods that only solidify as time slips on by.

Alex putting in work at the boulder spot! | Photo courtesy Martin Kuprianowicz

When I met that reggae-rockin', wild-haired kid he was still a snowboarder. Israel and I skied, and Alex was always right there with us on his board. He was several years younger than Izzy and me, but that never once was an issue after I saw how the kid rode. As days skiing with Alex turned into years, his legs got stronger and his stoke grew rowdier. At some point during my teenage years, Alex broke his board so I lent him a pair of skis. He had never skied a day in his life but after that fateful day, he was soon better than any of us. I think in about three days on skis he was already throwing spins and it wasn't long at all before he started stomping backflips in Ski Apache's icy, neglected terrain parks.

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A post shared by Alex Davis (@alexdavis.__)

Alex moved to Utah last season for a month after I had been nagging him on for a few seasons to get out of Ruidoso and come ski some 'real' mountains. After one visit during an exceptionally snowy week in March of 2018, he was hooked on the idea and I offered to help him find a place to live in Salt Lake City.

That month of skiing in Utah with Alex was one of the best of my life. I could barely walk upon a week of his arrival from how hard we were skiing, which mainly consisted of me chasing after his tails at Alta Ski Area and following him off big cliffs that he always hit first because he knew we were too scared to. Alex wanted to come back this winter for the whole shebang — not just a month. So he did what he often did and went back to Ruidoso to get to work and save money for winter. He always worked so hard.

 

Alex always loved throwing terrifying backflips. | Photo courtesy Alex Davis

I don't spend much time in Ruidoso anymore since I moved to Utah several years ago outside of holidays with the family, but this summer I got to spend a lot of time with Alex. I only realize how lucky I am to have done so now. Escaping the bustle of the city and impulsively coming home to spend more time with family after COVID-19 hit, Alex was my partner in crime when it came to doing anything worth doing this summer. After work, we'd both link up and go climb, hike, bike, fish, or whatever the hell would get us our fix for the day in the outdoors. I've always really related to Alex because we're the same in the fact that were both snow junkies and don't really feel right unless we've put in some sort of physical exercise outside in the mountains. I always pictured him skiing with me into our old age and I never once thought he'd be snatched from my life so suddenly.

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A post shared by Alex Davis (@alexdavis.__)

He died on a sunny Monday morning. He was 20 years young. I got the call from our best friend and excellent human Gage Whipple, who said that something bad had happened to Alex at work. I was on the deck working on my computer, the same place where I had seen Alex last a little over a week ago. I didn't believe it — I refused to. There was no way that a freak of an athletic human such as Alex could die — he was way too tough, way too resilient! But it was confirmed a few moments later that there had been an accident and that he had left this plane of existence. And then all of our worlds turned upside down.

"Alex was an angel in disguise," Kevin Hester said after the funeral, an old-time ski bum who often skied with Alex at Ski Apache. "Whether you shook his hand or he looked you in the eye, he was an angel in disguise. That's just what he was." Kevin had been texting Alex the day of his passing, and Alex wished him well as he enjoyed a vacation at Lake Powell in Utah. Alex would do this with everybody because that's just the type of man he was.

 

Alex and I seen before going on a hike in Lincoln National Forest in summer 2018. | Photo courtesy Martin Kuprianowicz

Alex was a man who made you better just by being around you, whether it was with kindness, athletic prowess, or just listening to you and offering his opinion on something. He was wise beyond his years and truly got what it meant to love everyone and every moment to the utmost because he knew time here on earth is limited. Too limited.

Alex is the glue that brought our friend group together (99% of the time while skiing) and kept it that way. He was a lot of people's favorite person, including my own, and damn sure the best skier I'd ever met. I always knew he was going all the way to the top, especially after watching his Freeride World Tour Qualifier video from Taos last season. But life had other plans.

It's important now, I think, to recognize that Alex is not in pain. He has left this world but his energy remains, dispersed among the trees and the snow. He is eternally free and it is only us — his friends and his beautiful family — who suffer on.

I just suppose these mountains got themselves a real snow god now.  

Alex's family has organized a Gofundme page to help pay some of his bills, fix his Subaru, and help cover the costs of attorney fees. The page reads:

"Alex was the guy who would dream something so big, and then wake up the next morning and fulfill it just so he could live in the moment. There isn't anything that anybody could say or do to help heal the hearts of many in our small community. However, Alex’s family is looking forward to keeping his spirit alive, and finishing a few things he had started before this year is over. We are asking donations to fix Alex’s Subaru WRX, pay off his new vehicle, and any extra for attorney fees. The family also has a donation account set up at  Washington Federal Bank in Ruidoso, for those who would rather donate there. All checks and donations at the bank have to be made out to Michelle Elwell (Mother of Alex, and account holder) and in the memo, box be sure to write “For Alex Davis”. The family will also be accepting donations in person."

No monetary sum will ever bring Alex back or mend the wound that gapes in all of our hearts. But anything will help his family in this trying, transitional period — anything.

To donate, please click here or go to the fundraiser webpage at https://gf.me/u/y2k96h

If you decide to donate, thank you. Or if you don't and you just read this article, also thank you. But above all, THANK YOU ALEX for everything you've taught me and all that amazing powder we skied while we were both young. Love you and miss you always brother, I'll see you at the chair.

 

Alex took me on my first real shed hunt this summer in New Mexico. Rest in Powder brother! | Photo courtesy Martin Kuprianowicz

7 Amazing New Mexico Ski Areas You've Never Even Heard Of

A view of the gondola at Ski Apache, one of New Mexico’s premier yet still relatively unheard of ski areas. | Photo courtesy OnTheSnow.

 They don't call New Mexico the Land of Enchantment for nothing. It's wild. It's ancient. It's culturally-inclined. It's serene. It's a place I could die in and one where I nearly have.

But most importantly, it's a place with some of the most amazing skiing in the Rockies, given that the snow gods are playing ball that year. Just take a look at their ski areas.

The locations of all of New Mexico’s lovely ski areas. | Photo courtesy New Mexico Tourism.

And I'm not just talking about Taos, which, you've probably heard of if you even give a fraction-of-a-damn about skiing anything steep. That place is like a far-off, lucrative, steep skiing paradise. World-famous, too. Or maybe I'm just biased(in love)?

• Related: Hometown Mountain Shoutout: Ski Apache, New Mexico

But Taos isn't all New Mexico is hiding from you. The primordial land's other ski areas — of which I can bet many of you have never even heard of — have so much to show for. Check out the list:

Angel Fire trail map. | Photo courtesy Ski Central.

Angel Fire Resort 

Angel Fire Resort began in 1966, as a small ski destination in Northern New Mexico. They have since grown into a four-season resort offering a memorable Rocky Mountain experience for families, outdoor enthusiasts, and groups. The resort is located 8,600-feet above sea level in the Southern Rockies and has views of Wheeler Peak, the highest point in New Mexico. Angel Fire also has one of the best mountain bike parks in the United States which operates every summer.

• Location: Angel Fire, New Mexico
• Top elevation: 10,677 feet
• Base elevation: 8,600 feet
• Vertical drop: 2,077 feet
• Skiable area: 560 acres
• Runs: 80 total — 21% beginner, 56% intermediate, 23% expert
• Longest run: 3.2 miles
• Lifts: 7
• Terrain parks: 3
• Average annual snowfall: 210 inches
• Snowmaking: Yes

Ski Santa Fe trail map. | Photo courtesy SkiMap.org

Ski Sante Fe

Ski Santa Fe is located just 16 miles from the town of Santa Fe, one of the most popular destinations in the US. The ski area is tucked away high in the stunning Sangre de Cristo Mountains and it has a base area elevation of 10,350 feet, putting it among the highest ski areas in the continental United States. The Millennium Triple Chairlift takes skiers and riders to a height of 12,075 feet with some of the Southwest's finest skiing. The vistas atop Ski Santa Fe are unsurpassed and act as the gateway for thrills including steep mogul runs, powder-filled chutes, gladed tree-skiing, and more than plenty groomed trails.

• Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Top elevation: 12,075 feet
• Base elevation: 10,350 feet
• Vertical drop: 1,725 feet
• Skiable area: 660 acres
• Runs: 86 total — 20% beginner, 40% intermediate, 40% expert
• Longest run: 3 miles
• Lifts: 7
• Terrain parks: 1
• Average annual snowfall: 225 inches
• Snowmaking: Yes

Pajarito Trail Map. | Photo courtesy Pajarito Mountain Ski Area.

Pajarito Mountain Ski Area

Located on the eastern edge of the Jemez Mountains in north-central New Mexico, Pajarito Mountain Ski Area is five miles west of Los Alamos. Its 750 acres of land are privately owned by Los Alamos Ski Club and were developed as a ski area in the late 1950s. The mountain has spectacular views east over the Rio Grande Valley towards the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and west over the Valle Grande from the peak.

Pajarito Mountain boasts 300 acres of skiable terrain, not counting its renowned tree skiing, plus some of the best bump skiing in the state. It is rarely crowded, and guests seldom need wait in lift lines. It is open to the public, selling both day tickets and season passes. There is no on-mountain lodging, however, hotels and other lodging options are available in nearby Los Alamos and Santa Fe.

• Location: Los Alamos County, New Mexico
• Top elevation: 10,440 feet
• Base elevation: 9,000 feet
• Vertical drop: 1,200 feet
• Skiable area: 280 acres
• Runs: 40 total — 20% beginner, 50% intermediate, 30% expert
• Longest run: 0.6 miles
• Lifts: 7
• Terrain parks: 2
• Average annual snowfall: 125 inches
• Snowmaking: Yes

Red River trail map. | Photo courtesy Snow-Online.

Red River Ski Area

Located in the self-proclaimed "Ski Town of the Southwest," Red River Ski Area is a family-owned and operated mountain in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of the southern Rockies of New Mexico. The ski area is positioned along the famed Enchanted Circle near Texas, Albuquerque, Taos, and Santa Fe, and has a base elevation of 8,750 feet along with 209 skiable acres. The mountain is steeper than first meets the eye and has some epic tree skiing.

• Location: Red River, New Mexico
• Top elevation: 10,350 feet
• Base elevation: 8,750 feet
• Vertical drop: 1,600 feet
• Skiable area: 209 acres
• Runs: 64 total — 31% beginner, 31% intermediate, 38% expert
• Longest run: 2.5 miles
• Lifts: 7
• Terrain parks: 3
• Average annual snowfall: 214 inches
• Snowmaking: Yes
• Average days of sunshine: 300+

Sandia Peak trail map. | Photo courtesy Skiresortinfo.com

Sandia Peak Ski Area

Sandia Peak is perched above Albuquerque in the Sandia Mountains and is arguably the nation's easiest accessible ski resort from a major city due to its 60 person aerial tram that rises more than 4,000 vertical feet in less than 20 minutes. It is New Mexico's oldest ski area since 1937 and offers beginner and intermediate terrain. Weekends can get crowded and lifts are old, but a weekday powder dump is never something anybody living in or around Albuquerque can complain about.

• Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Top elevation: 10,378 feet
• Base elevation: 8,678 feet
• Vertical drop: 1,700 feet
• Skiable area: 200 acres
• Runs: 39 total — 31% beginner, 46% intermediate, 23% expert
• Longest run: 2 miles
• Lifts: 5
• Terrain parks: 1
• Average annual snowfall: 100 inches
• Snowmaking: Yes

Sipapu Ski Resort trail map. | Photo courtesy Sipapu Ski Resort.

Sipapu Ski Resort

Sipapu is the definition of a "family-oriented mountain," but one with some actually GREAT skiing. Family owned and operated since 1952, everything at this ski area seems to have been designed to please families and protect their budgets, from lodging to terrain, according to OnTheSnow. There are 41 runs, a vertical drop of 1,055 feet, an average snowfall of 190 inches, and a snowmaking system that covers 70 percent of Sipapu's 200 acres. There's also plenty of diversity in its terrain. Here you'll find some of the best tree skiing in the state, a couple of terrain parks, some long cruising trails, and an abundance of novice and beginner terrain.

• Location: Vadito, New Mexico
• Top elevation: 9,255 feet
• Base elevation: 8,200 feet
• Vertical drop: 1,055 feet
• Skiable area: 200 acres
• Runs: 41 total — 20% beginner, 40% intermediate, 40% expert
• Longest run: 0.5 miles
• Lifts: 6
• Terrain parks: 4
• Average annual snowfall: 190 inches
• Snowmaking: Yes

A photo from the historic 45″ powder day at Ski Apache, New Mexico in 2018. Photo: SnowBrains.

Ski Apache

I saved the best for last. Well, not really. You can't say that this ski area is the best ski area on this list in terms of mountain stats. But I can, because I grew up skiing here and it will always be one of the best ski areas ever to me. Ski Apache has seven chairs, a high-speed gondola, wicked tree skiing, bowls and glades and mogul fields, and fun, flowy terrain that is exceptional on powder days. With 750 skiable acres and a 1,900-foot vertical drop, this mountain is seriously slept on. It doesn't get as many big dumps as it did in the good ol' days, but when it does — like when they got a historic 45 inches in 24 hours in December of 2018 — there's no other place I'd rather be skiing.

• Location: Ruidoso, New Mexico
• Top elevation: 11,500 feet
• Base elevation: 9,600 feet
• Vertical drop: 1,900 feet
• Skiable area: 750 acres
• Runs: 55 total — 20% beginner, 60% intermediate, 20% expert
• Longest run: 2.5 miles
• Lifts: 8 + 1 gondola
• Terrain parks: 3
• Average annual snowfall: 185 inches
• Snowmaking: Yes

Ski Apache trail map.

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The Proposed British Columbia Mega-Resort That Would Be the Biggest Ski Area in North America

The proposed VGD Resort would be the biggest ski area in North America with the third largest vertical drop in the world | Photo courtesy Valemount Glacier Destinations Ltd.

The area for the proposed Valemount Glacier Destination Resort, which is expected to be the largest year-round ski resort in North America with the third tallest vertical drop out of any ski area on earth, could be described as a “mini AK.” Once completed, the resort will have up to 12,448 acres of skiable terrain and over 6,500 feet of vertical drop giving it the most vertical out of any ski resort in North America by far.

Excited yet?

VGD Resort terrain and lifts digital rendering | Photo courtesy Valemount Glacier Destinations Ltd.

The European alps-like ski Mecca would cover an area of nearly 31 square miles across a range of the Cariboo Mountains in the interior of British Columbia. Plans have been proposed and the project has received the blessing of the Simpcw First Nation, an indigenous community with over 12.3 million acres of unceded territory in BC. The First Nation community has even gone as far as to contribute several hundred acres of land to the project, with revenue-sharing plans in mind.

#Valemount-area resort development sees Simpcw First Nation add land | STORY: https://t.co/3bmouf4Ik3 pic.twitter.com/UOL4HJpvuN

— CFJC Today Kamloops (@CFJC_Today) March 7, 2018

Approved in 2017, Valemount Glacier Destinations and its partners have already spent roughly $2.3 million on the first phase of the three-phase project, according to CBC Canada. Yet, although plans have been proposed and an initial investment has been made, the actual construction phase of VGD Resort’s Master Plan still hasn’t to come to fruition as several building constraints and financial dealings still need to be sorted out.

The behemoth resort is to be placed on Mt. Arthur Meighen near the humble Canadian village of Valemount that has a quiet population of about 1,000, a delicious pizza joint, a beautiful mountain bike park, and an award-winning brewery. The town is about a five-hour drive away from the nearest international airport in Edmonton, AB. Valemount has a small airport that is currently too small to support large commercial airlines from flying in ski tourists. But as the gears on this project begin to turn faster and faster, this may change.

The village of Valemount | Photo courtesy Facebook.

Owen Torgerson, the village’s mayor since 2018, sat down with me for a socially-distanced, FaceTime interview about the current status of the resort project. He, like myself, was beyond eager to talk about how to get this beast of a ski hill out of the planning phase and into the building phase.

What are you most excited about with this project? 

“Well, having a couple of ski poles in my hand,” Torgerson chuckled. “[VGD Resort] will be North America’s first all-season resort. That means skiing year-round. Sight-seeing year-round. You name it. It’s the best combination of geography and climate and it will have the highest lift-accessed glacier skiing for year-round sight-seeing and snowsports." 

Valemount, BC on a map | Photo courtesy Valemount Glacier Destinations Ltd.

Valemount has a population of about 1,000. How do you expect it to grow with the development of this ski area?

“We have a lot of horizontal area but what we’re working on right now is densification. So, the sky’s the limit.”

The last observable news on the project’s website is from 2017. Can you tell me the latest news on this project coming out of Valemount? 

“We’re still seeking investment during these trying and certainly unprecedented times. But with the support that this project has from the Simpcw First Nation, we are confident this will boost investor confidence.”

What can you tell me about the airport in Valemount? Can it handle commercial airliners? Are there plans to reconstruct it?

“Valemount’s airport cannot handle, say, a 727 commercial airliner at this time. It’s a bit too short and the touch-down zones are a bit too thin. So, working with the resort throughout phase one and phase two, we’d be looking to expand that for sure. [The runway] is currently 3,900 feet long and we’d like to take that to 5,000+ and then widen it from 75 feet to about 150 feet wide. But it’s fully serviced right now with GPS landing, precision approach, fuel distribution, and a small terminal.”

The proposed study area for the VGD Resort | Photo courtesy Valemount Glacier Destinations Ltd.

VGD has the same developer as the controversial Jumbo Resort, which was opposed and then barred from development. Do you see this as a problem at all?

“No. Because the major difference between Jumbo and this project was consultation with the indigenous communities. With this project, I think they learned from Jumbo that you have to have consultation early and often and that’s exactly what they did with this project. The Simpcw First Nation have been in support of this project from the getgo, and the proponents [of this project] have been meeting their requirements, working toward archaeological overview assessments, cultural heritage assessments, and extensive environmental assessments.”

What are you working on right now with this ski resort project?

“We’re working with the province for road design. The requirements are quite extensive and we’re trying to make it a bit more realistic for where we are right now. Having road construction to meet future specifications is key but we also need roads to be a bit more feasible, construction-wise, for what we’re doing right now.”

An artistic rendering of the proposed base village of VGD Resort | Photo courtesy Valemount Glacier Destinations Ltd.

How has the pandemic set you guys back, project-wise?

“Canada and British Columbia especially have been focused around the health aspects of COVID and we’re just now getting to the economic rebuild of the process. And I think this project can be a spark. If anything, COVID has positively had an impact on this project, because now this project’s economic potential is being realized. Once our provincional health officer lifts restrictions on international travel and if phase one is well underway by that time, people will be clawing to get up here.”

How do foresee this project — do you see the project taking off right away?

“Yeah actually, I do. Again, just reiterating the support from indigenous communities, this isn’t just going to have economic activity locally. This is going to have an economic boom for the entire province of British Columbia.”

Vertical drop comparison of the world’s tallest ski areas. VGD Resort would clock in at #3 | Photo courtesy Valemount Glacier Destinations Ltd.

Anything else you’d like to add about the VGD Resort project?

“What we’re trying to achieve is the largest vertical rise and one of the most exhilarating mountain experiences in North America. We’ve got the climate. We’ve got the geography. We’ve got the support. It’s right next to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We’ve got the groundwork ready for transportation and hotel partnerships. I can’t reiterate this enough: we’ve got clear and supportive agreements in place already with the First Nation which is imperative for business/investor confidence here in British Columbia and this is designed for the visitors of today and tomorrow, taking climate change into consideration. The design and development team have a very unique track record and we’re very excited to get this project underway.”

Mt. Arthur (10,515′) is the proposed peak for the VGD Resort to be centered on near Valemount, BC | Photo courtesy Valemount Glacier Destinations Ltd.

According to the Resort’s master plan, in total, the resort will have 18 lifts built over three phases. The planned inventory includes:

• 2 magic carpets;

• 4 gondolas;

• 6 detachable quad chairs;

• 2 Fixed grip quad chairs, and

• 4 glacier T-Bar lifts.

“There will be a total of 813 hectares (2,009 acres) of ski runs at build-out and the lift network and the ski area will have an Adjusted Comfortable Carrying Capacity of 9,500 at build-out. The Balanced Resort Capacity will be 11,086. Water will be supplied from wells, and the resort will have its own state-of-the-art tertiary treatment sewage plant.

The project proponent is Valemount Glacier Destinations Ltd., a single-purpose company based in Vancouver, BC with investors from British Columbia and Ontario.” — VGD Master Plan

The project was drafted in 2017 on a five-year agreement with hopes to be completed by 2022. However, there is a chance, Mayor Torgerson said, that the project may go beyond the initial five-year agreement. But he, like myself, and the other million anxious skiers and snowboarders who are drooling over this proposed monster ski area, prefer that they just get going right away.

To learn more about the VGD Resort project, download and read the master plan from the project’s website here. 

A proposed #Valemount ski resort moving closer to construction http://t.co/0UBRFvj4K3 pic.twitter.com/pTC0I9s9Qb

— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) July 24, 2015

Quote of the day

"Studious of ease, and fond of humble things,

Below the smiles, below the frowns of kings:

Thanks to my stars, I prize the sweets of life,

No sleepless nights I count, no days of strife.

I rest, I wake, I drink, I sometimes love,

I read, I write, I settle, or I rove;

Cotent to live, content to die unknown, 

Lord of myself, accountable to none."

— Benjamin Franklin