Whistler Blackcomb already serves as a true year-round destination, something that most ski resorts can only imitate. In July and August, actual visitor numbers are generated by the summertime mountain biking, hiking paths, and Peak 2 Peak gondola, which transports passengers between Whistler and Blackcomb even in the absence of snow. However, the truthful version of the resort’s visitor numbers reveals what any frequent visitor already knows: winter is the main season, and everything else is incidental. The Renaissance Plan is an attempt to alter that math, especially with regard to its indoor water park component.
The plan calls for building a 145,000-square-foot indoor entertainment center at the foot of Blackcomb Mountain, about 2,000 feet above sea level. This is not an off-mountain institution situated in the valley, thus the location is important. Since it’s a ski-base building, skiers may enter an indoor aquatic environment directly after their runs without having to get into a car. The project, which features a wave pool as its focal point, multi-zone water attractions, kid-friendly learning spaces, and a separate area for ski school training operations, was created by BOS Studio Architecture. The owner of Whistler Blackcomb, Vail Resorts, has been working through a larger $345 million commercial development strategy, which includes the $80 million cost estimate for the waterpark component.
The logic behind the four-season case for an indoor water park at a mountain resort is simple. The weather in the mountains is becoming more erratic. The shortened seasons caused by climate variability have become a significant commercial risk for resort owners who rely on snow, and ski seasons that should extend from November to April occasionally don’t. In addition to extending the useful hours of a ski day for families whose kids are exhausted by early afternoon and providing visitors with a strong incentive to stay an extra night instead of driving back to Vancouver after the slopes close, an indoor attraction that operates regardless of what the mountain is doing creates a revenue stream that is not weather dependent.
What immediately comes to mind is what European mountain resorts have been constructing for the last ten or more years. Locations like Ischgl in Austria and Les Gets in the French Alps have made significant investments in summer and all-weather infrastructure because they have witnessed the risk that comes with being exposed to a single season. Whistler faces the same structural difficulty on a greater scale, catering to a market of around 3 million people annually, most of whom are concentrated during the winter.
The timeline is less precise. The waterpark portion of the Renaissance Plan is presently on hold, a term that can refer to a variety of real-world circumstances, ranging from “temporarily paused pending financing” to “indefinitely deferred pending market conditions.” The regulatory approach for a structure of this size at the foot of a mountain in British Columbia requires provincial permissions and environmental reviews, which add time to any realistic plan. Vail Resorts has not disclosed a start date for construction. The idea is real. It has been designed. A model of the business case has been created. Decisions that haven’t been made publicly will determine whether or not those items become a building.
