The door to Shangrila will remain locked until March, after Parks Canada’s recent announcement on delayed winter access to the Maligne Valley.
The backcountry ski cabin, which is run by the Maligne Lake Ski Club, was built by legendary Jasperites Curly Phillips and Doug and Willard Jeffery, and has been in operation since 1936.
This year, because no public will be allowed in the Maligne Valley until March, the club was forced to cancel about two months’ worth of reservations to the cabin.
Sandy Cox, the club’s vice president, said the cabin was almost booked solid during January and February, with only the occasional free day. She guessed that the club had to cancel reservations for close to 30 groups.
It costs members of the club $200 a night to rent the cabin, and according to Cox, all of the cancelled reservations will be a hit to the club’s yearly profit.
She guessed that the closures will mean somewhere around $10,000 in lost revenue, but said she’s confident the club will work out a solution that will allow it to continue.
The executive board will hold a meeting later this month, and will begin developing a proposal for the future operation of the ski club.
“We sort of have a ball-park figure of how much revenue we need to generate each year to [stay] viable and so right now we’re OK. We haven’t sat down and really crunched the numbers to look at our operation days this year, and what our costs will be.
“But now we’ll have to sit down and look at what’s going to happen.”
There is good news for the club, however.
All of the maintenance and repairs that have been completed to date are paid for, and the cabin will stay open a little longer this year to try and recover some of its losses. Of course, Cox pointed out, that will be contingent on favourable snow conditions.
In the meantime, Cox said Parks is interested in helping the club in its efforts to remain viable.
“Parks had expressed a willingness to work with us, because this is a very historic cabin, and a lot of people have had an introduction to the backcountry in a nice way through it,” she said.
Cox added that caribou conservation is important to its members, and the club supports Parks’ decision to close the valley for a large part of the winter.
“We figure that the restriction is going to last for a long time, and we’re willing to work with Parks Canada to ensure that the caribou restoration strategy is viable and likely to succeed.”
Shangrila will reopen on March 2, and will stay open until the end of April. Cox said that when the club has a better idea of how to move forward, it will ensure its members and the public have all the information they need.
Trevor Nichols
[email protected]
Get an inside view of how backcountry users are feeling by reading Loni Klettl’s column: A large black fly on the wall, or get some insight into what local environmentalists think of Parks’ decision by reading Jill Seaton’s column: History of caribou conservation.
For an overview of Parks Canada’s recent decision, as well as perspective from Jasper’s acting superintendent Alan Fehr, check out the great caribou debate
