TOURISM

The Kootenay Region, with its spectacular mountain scenery, lakes, rivers and broad array of activities, has always been a destination for tourists, but more than ever before, the area is marketing itself nationally and internationally to attract visitors and tourism-based businesses. 

There are a plethora of resorts, including Kicking Horse Resort (Golden), Panorama Mountain Village (Invermere), Kimberley and Fernie Alpine Resorts, St. Eugene Mission (Cranbrook), and Fairmont Hot Springs Resort.

The ski and snowboarding industry in the B.C. Rockies remains strong, and so has investment and new construction related to it.  Spas/wellness centres, pubs/restaurants, and other specialty businesses are popping up to accommodate tourists’ every need.

The Kootenay Rockies tourism region hosts 34.2 per cent of the province’s ski runs. Fernie Alpine Resort took the number 5 spot in Skiing Magazine’s ‘Top 25 Resorts in North America’ in 2007, and Fernie was called the “coolest town in North America” by Rolling Stone Magazine. 

The Kootenay region is known as the birthplace of heliskiing, with such companies as Golden’s Purcell Helicopter Skiing, Canadian Mountain Holidays (based out of Banff, Alta.) and RK Heli-Ski, based out of Panorama providing access to the deep powder of the Purcell Mountains.  Cat_skiing operations were also pioneered in the Kootenays.   Other winter pursuits include snowmobiling, cross country skiing, and snow shoeing.

The Kootenay Rockies region is home or adjacent to the province’s largest concentration of national parks. Kootenay National Park (KNP) is accessed at Radium Hot Springs and Yoho National Park is east of Golden, with Field as its service centre. In addition, KNP is next to Banff and Glacier National Park, including Rogers Pass, is half an hour’s drive west of Golden.

The Kootenay Rockies boasts several enormous protected areas, reflecting the region’s residents’ love for and attachment to the land. Among the more notable protected areas are the Columbia Wetlands Wildlife Management Area (17,000 hectares) north of Invermere, and the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area, the 203,000 ha Purcell Wilderness Conservancy and Provincial Park (west of Invermere and Canal Flats) and spectacular 54,000 ha Height of the Rockies Provincial Park, north of Elkford and east of Radium Hot Springs.

Other provincial parks, providing wilderness experiences, boating/fishing and camping in the region are:

• Columbia Valley: Bugaboo Wilderness; Columbia Lake; Dry Gulch; James Chabot; Mount Assiniboine; Top of the World; Whiteswan Lake.
• Cranbrook/Kimberley area: Gilnockie; Jim Smith Lake; Kikomun Creek; Moyie Lake; Norbury Lake; Premier Lake; St. Mary’s Alpine; Wardner; Wasa Lake; Yahk.
• Creston: Kianuko; Lockhart Creek/Beach.
• Elk Valley: Crowsnest; Elk Lakes; Elk Valley; Morrissey; Mount Fernie.
• Golden: Burges and James Gadsen; Mud Creek.

See www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/ for more information about the parks.

Many Kootenay Rockies residents are attracted to the area for its wildlife, fishing, hiking, canoeing, rafting, hang-gliding and other outdoor recreation opportunities, which are available in grand abundance, with the communities offering services and amenities designed around those activities.
While the region boasts a large collection of protected and managed areas, it is also home to a vast Crown land (province-owned) backcountry, with hundreds of special places valued by the locals and visitors lucky enough to find them.

The area has a myriad of golf courses.  Some of the up and coming ones are designed by PGA players like Gary Player (Wildstone, Cranbrook), Greg Norman (Blackstone, Fernie), and Fred Couples (Whiskey Jack, Sparwood). There is something for every level of golfer, in spectacular settings. At the heart of the region’s golf scene is the Columbia Valley, called by some ‘the Palm Springs of the north.’ Greywolf Golf Course at Panorama Mountain Village is annually rated at the top of the heap by Golf Digest Magazine and is even presented as an XBox game. There are 15 golf courses (nine and 18 hole) located in the Columbia Valley alone.

Many of the region’s communities are diversifying into tourism and eco-tourism.  Guides and entrepreneurs are starting up businesses to accommodate niche markets.  Municipalities are also trying to get those who visit to come live, work, and play here. The area’s many festivals, like Sam Steele Days (Cranbrook), JulyFest (Kimberley), Griz Days (Fernie) and Wings Over the Rockies (Columbia Valley) bring in thousands of tourists and millions of dollars to the economy.

With the arrival of Delta Air Lines, via Salt Lake City, Utah, to the Canadian Rockies International Airport, the region’s tourism profile continues to march along at a brisk pace.

Kootenay Rockies Tourism, the regional branch of the provincial Crown corporation Tourism British Columbia, is based out of Kimberley. Go to www.kootenayrockies.com for more.

 Photos: Diana Scott, Ski Photo: Karl Topp, Teepee Photo: Carrie Schafer