There is a nature reserve in Medicine Hat, Alta. called Police Point Park. It is a sacred place to me. I’ve been travelling to the Hat for almost 40 years, and each trip I spend as much time as I can wandering the trails listening to warblers in the cottonwood trees.
Or something like that.
The park is 100 hectares and has about seven kilometres of trails. It’s a peaceful place. Never crowded. At the entrance, there is a sign that offers a brief history of the refuge and ends with the couplet:
“Let no one say, and say it to your shame, that all was beauty here, before you came.”
(This simple verse has made its way on to park signs around the world. Its uncertain origin is most often attributed to Val Lewton, a Russian-American screenwriter who died in 1951. You know him best for his epic 1943 production of I Walked With a Zombie.)
I was in Medicine Hat last week when the news broke that the McLaughlin family was selling Grouse Mountain Resorts.
My initial reaction to this sale was likely similar to many of yours: These are tough days to sell a ski resort in Vancouver.
The financial climate might be right; it’s the climate climate that poses a problem.
You may recall, 2015 was something of a disaster on the local ski hills. Trend lines seem to indicate the snowlessness of that season will become less and less of an anomaly, making the purchase of a Vancouver ski resort more and more of a risk.
To the McLaughlins’ credit, they’ve done well diversifying their 500 hectares on the mountain. In the off-season, you can zip line, walk the trails, check out a grizzly refuge. And there’s that wind turbine that looks like a propeller on top of a beanie. While it doesn’t exactly spin like the Wall of Death at the PNE, it is something of an engineering marvel, and when it moves, you can feel its might.
What I personally love most about the resort is its iconic view. On a clear day, Grouse Mountain offers a panorama of where we live that is, frankly, without rival.
When I was in Medicine Hat thinking about Grouse Mountain, I considered the likelihood of it getting built today — the likelihood of someone getting the OK to clearcut ski runs on an otherwise pristine mountaintop on the edge of one of the world’s most beautiful cities.
My reaction to such a proposal would probably be something along the lines of: “Leave the damn mountain alone.”
That said, the McLaughlins have been noble stewards of this land and for many reasons I’m glad the resort exists. Whoever buys this magnificent property, I sincerely hope it is managed with the same respect and love.
As snowfall will likely become more and more of a rarity on our local mountains, no doubt the new owners will continue to develop and diversify the property in order to maximize revenues. My only advice to whomever is afforded this privilege: Let no one say, and say it to your shame …
