Big White officials are concerned with a growing number of complaints about the highway that links the resort to its most significant client base.
鈥淭he reliability of the Coquihalla has never been this prominent in conversations with us,鈥� said Michael Ballingall, senior vice-president of sales and marketing at Big White Ski Resort.
鈥淲e hear about it every day.鈥�
Regular reports of highway closures, eye witness accounts of transport trucks skidding out of control and a series of weather alerts from Environment Canada are making their way to their Lower Mainland clientele and they鈥檙e responding, said Ballingall. With every issue that arises, central reservations staff fields queries about road safety and requests to cancel reservations. Just last weekend, portions of the highway were closed at least twice.
RELATED: COQUIHALLA CLOSED AND REOPENED
That kind of frequency has even the mountain鈥檚 most loyal guests chiming in.
鈥淟ast year, family day weekend, we spent the night on the highway. It had become a skating rink. It was mayhem. Trucks and cars everywhere. We left at 2 p.m. and didn鈥檛 get to Big White until 6 a.m. and we were one of the fortunate ones. Our friends were turned around after spending hours on the highway and never made it. Others never made it to Big White until noon the next day,鈥� reads one of the letters to Ballingall.
鈥淭his year, again on Family Day weekend we were once again re-routed due to the highway closure due to a multi-car accident and had to take Highway 3. We were also stuck on this highway as three semis had jack-knifed and cars couldn鈥檛 get through. This time it took us over eight hours to get through. We are re-considering Big White now as a vacation destination as we will not continue to drive the highways the way they are currently maintained and jeopardize our safety鈥� they don鈥檛 make a show called Highway Thru Hell for nothing鈥�
All in all, it鈥檚 the foundation of a perception problem that Ballingall says spells big trouble for tourism.
鈥淎 good portion of the tourism business is centred around perception, and when it comes to the Coquihalla, it鈥檚 at an all-time low,鈥� he said.
That, he said, means it鈥檚 time to act.
鈥淚f someone asked what we鈥檇 do, I鈥檇 say the laws and the fines (for rigs) to chain up should be addressed,鈥� he said, adding the fine鈥檚 for non-compliance are not high enough to obey the law.
He鈥檇 also like to see messaging change. When closure alerts are issued, he said there isn鈥檛 a great deal of follow up.
鈥淲e can only alert the powers that be on what the consumer is saying about the road,鈥� he said.
Through that process he hopes some change can be delivered鈥攊t鈥檚 been the case previously.
Avalanche protocols through the Rogers Pass were such a concern at one point, that resort officials lobbied the government for change and it came to pass.
When asked for comment, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure acknowledged this has been a challenging winter, with 鈥渨ell above average amounts of snowfall for the Coquihalla.鈥�
鈥淚n fact, this January the highway experienced 235 centimetres of snowfall, which is 153 cm more than last year,鈥� said a ministry representative.
鈥淥n a high mountain pass, such as the Coquihalla, storm systems often bring extremely heavy and wet snowfall events and it only takes a few minutes for snow to accumulate and become compacted on the road surface.鈥�
During winter storms, contractors have every available piece of equipment in use, and also increase the frequency of patrols when a winter weather event is forecasted and add extra enforcement for chain-up on the Snowshed Hill.
鈥淭he ministry recognizes the importance of this highway to the ski industry and makes every effort to ensure that the snow drawing skiers to the interior is not the same thing that keeps them away,鈥� said ministry staff.
They added, that while the highway travels through some very challenging terrain, it鈥檚 important to recognize that the number of serious crashes continues to trend downwards over the last 10 years. They did not offer a number that could support that assertion.
鈥淲hile we are concerned about the perception that highway conditions affect B.C.鈥檚 tourism industry by limiting skier visits, we are pleased that resorts like Sun Peaks near Kamloops posted a new record for skier visits last year,鈥� said ministry staff.
