The Revelstoke Snowmobile Club cut the ribbon on its new welcoming centre, hot on the heels of a 20 per cent increase in riders last winter.
The club saw 30,000 snowmobilers use its trails up Boulder Mountain and Frisby Ridge this past winter — 5,000 more than the year before.
The new welcoming centre features a reception area for ticket sales, offices and a meeting room for the club, and a maintenance area for the club’s fleet of groomers. It’s located in the Boulder Mountain parking lot off Westside Road.
The building was built for more than $400,000. $160,000 came from the province’s Resort Municipality Infrastructure Fund, $100,000 from the Economic Opportunity Fund, $100,000 from the Columbia Basin Trust, and the rest came from the snowmobile club.
“This is amazing to have this building here after so many years,” said club president Daniel Kellie.
Mayor Mark McKee, Rural Revelstoke director Loni Parker and Jackie Tegart, the MLA for Fraser-Nicola, were on hand for the ribbon cutting.
“(This building) symbolizes just how important the snowmobiling industry is to our economy,” said McKee. “It symbolizes the work the snowmobile club does to build up that industry.”
Kathy Burke said the club had more visitors from the United States this winter, and didn’t see a drop in visitors from Alberta as they feared with that province’s slumping economy.
To help cope with the increased number of riders, they’ve applied for tenure to groom trails up several other popular snowmobiling areas, including Sale Mountain, Mount Hall, Turtle Mountain and Griffith.
“The last two season, Boulder and Frisby have been over-used,” said Kellie.
