Why Invest at Mount Washington Alpine Resort?

The new Village development at Mount Washington offers many benefits to prospective buyers and investors.

A Defined Vision

Mount Washington Alpine Resort is located in one of the most spectacular coastal alpine settings in North America. The Resort is in position as a multiseason family oriented destination and is providing visitors and residents with a diverse and distinct outdoor destination experience.

Visitors and residents alike will be able to experience a myriad of activities within the Resort while Mount Washington also serves as a hub for activities in adjacent Strathcona Provincial Park or the nearby coastal waters of Vancouver Island. Almost every imaginable recreational pursuit is within a one hour commute of the Resort. By 2010, the Alpine Village will have been seamlessly integrated into the surrounding natural landscape and provide people the opportunity to recreate, shop, dine, explore and learn in an intimate and friendly environment.

The resort is proceeding to implement its Vision, notably with the investment of over twenty million dollars in various infrastructure projects. Opening its doors in December 2001, the sublime Raven Lodge, the 2.2 million dollar eco-adventure/Nordic Centre, will be the hub of international Nordic team training leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Hawk High Speed 6ix Pak lift was completed for the 2003 winter season, to a price tag of 5 million dollars and is one of only three lifts of it’s type in Western Canada. The Outback adds another 400 acres of terrain to Mount Washington Alpine Resort and this new, exciting area of Double Black Diamond riding is accessed by The Boomerang Quad, a state-of-the-art Double Offload chairlift, coming in at four million dollars. A road building project recently undertaken by the Resort significantly eased travel to parts of the mountain. This road was built to provincial highway standards of paving and infrastructure, ensuring the facilitation of future development to the Western side of Mount Washington. The Vision is clear; a myriad of new summer and winter programs, amenities and infrastructure are being created and implemented to ensure there is never a lack of activities to do or things to see while visiting Mount Washington Alpine Resort.

In March 2004, the resort was granted its own postal code, physical address and Post Office. This is one of the requirements of becoming a Resort Community and the Post Office will soon be joined by other hallmarks of a growing community, such as a Public Safety building. They may only be three letters and three numbers, but V9J 1L0 now indicate Mount Washington Alpine Resort at 1 Strathcona Parkway, Mount Washington, BC.

Schematic Master Plan addresses Market preferences

The master plan identified for the new Mount Washington village (as well as secondary area plans for the other areas of the resort), combined with the adjacent Strathcona Park, incorporate the key facilities and amenities that are required to cater to both the existing and future market potential identified for the resort.

• Skiers and boarders are drawn to Mount Washington’s reliable snow accumulation that is consistently one of the deepest in North America.
• Summer visitors enjoy the spectacular views from a mile above sea level and exploring the high alpine trail system in Strathcona Provincial Park.
• Both Provincial & Regional Government Approvals are secured for 2,200 units
• With only 600 units presently built accommodating approximately 4,000 beds, Mount Washington represents substantial development opportunity.

Location, Location, Location

Mount Washington located at the ‘epicentre’ of Vancouver Island, an Internationally Acclaimed Top Destination. The newly completed Comox Valley Airport continues to draw visitors to the Comox valley in ever-increasing numbers.

In 1999, Vancouver Island was rated by readers of Condé Naste Traveler magazine as The Number One Non-Tropical Island In The World. Last year, the readers of the same magazine, which has over two million subscribers worldwide, rated Vancouver Island as the second top temperate island in the world.

In the August 2001 edition of Travel + Leisure magazine, its readers voted Vancouver Island winner of the prestigious “2001 World’s Best Award - Best Island in the continental US and Canada” and also ranked the Island third on its list of the World’s Top 10 Islands, behind Maui and Kauai.

The readers of these magazines are experienced travelers. They gave Vancouver Island top marks because of its natural attractions, spectacular scenery, coastlines and beaches, excellent range of activities and excursions, people friendliness, quality of lodging and dining and overall value.

Mount Washington has excellent accessibility to major markets

The Resort is easily accessible from all major Vancouver Island communities, courtesy of Highway 19, the four-lane freeway that has an exit directly at the bottom of Mount Washington. This connects to The Strathcona Parkway, the paved, 16km provincial highway that winds directly to the base Resort facilities.

With the assured loading provisions on BC Ferries, Mount Washington is located approximately 3.5 to 4 hour travel time from many Vancouver neighbourhoods. Similarly, it is situated about a 5 to 7 hour trip from the Interstate communities located between Bellingham to Seattle region. The ferry cruise and four lanes of freeway make travelling to Mount Washington Alpine Resort a very scenic and easy trip.

It’s official: The Comox Valley International Airport is the province’s fifth busiest airport (over 200,000 travelers per year) and it is graced with the second-longest runway in BC, as it uses the infrastructure at Canadian Forces Base Comox. Cleared to en-plane aircraft up to 747-400 size by Transport Canada, the airport boasts a completely new international and domestic terminal with world-class amenities and safety features. West Jet, Canada’s leading airline, as well as Air Transat, Pacific Coastal Airlines and Central Mountain Air service Comox Valley International Airport. West Jet flies direct from both Edmonton and Calgary to Comox many times per day. This allows Calgarians and Edmontonians to access Mount Washington Alpine Resort and the multitude of all season recreational activities in the Comox and Campbell River region in less time than driving to “land” confined resorts (i.e. Fernie, Panorama, Kicking Horse, Lake Louise, Jasper, etc.) located in The Rockies. Mount Washington Alpine Resort is only 30 minutes from both the Comox Valley International Airport as well as the Campbell River Airport. The River City is serviced by daily Heli-Jet fixed wing air service from Boeing Field in Seattle.

Strong Regional Tourism Market

Vancouver Island’s population has increased approximately 2.2% annually since 2000. Vancouver Island received close to 10 million visitors in 2002 with the majority of these arrivals in the summer months. Other more local and regional figures include:

• Approximately, 1.1 million of these total visits were overnight visitors to the North Central Region (Courtenay/Comox and Campbell River) of Vancouver Island and approximately 890,000 of these were in the summer months.
• According to Strathcona Provincial Park officials, park visitors number approximately 75,000 annually.
• Summer visitors to Mount Washington exceed 50,000 annually.
• Mount Washington currently receives more than 400,000 skier visits during the winter months and this is anticipated to increase by an average of 2% annually to 2009.

Strong Regional Population Growth

The population for the Comox-Strathcona Regional District was estimated to be 101,000 in 1998. The growth figures for the region supplied by Statistics Canada indicate an average population increase of 1.6% for the next ten years, which is above the provincial average for the same period.

Furthermore, the majority of regional CSRD residents reside within a 30 to 40 minute drive of Mount Washington and will continue to be enticed to visit the mountain on a regular basis year round.

Vancouver Island’s population has increased from 638,686 in 1995 to 700,593 in 2002.

Mount Washington Alpine Resort is the hub of the Discovery Region

Stay at Mount Washington and enjoy everything the Discovery Region of Vancouver Island has to offer. Golf, fish, hike, kayak, go whale and bear watching and so much more. The Discovery Region is truly a world-class destination.

A Favourable Family Alpine Destination

Mount Washington’s alpine attributes compare favourably against the Best Family Alpine Destination Resorts and Nordic Centres in North America

An extensive review of existing family oriented alpine resorts illustrates Mount Washington’s untapped potential to become one of North America’s top family alpine destinations. Compared to the majority of destinations studied, Mount Washington is still in the early stages of development and is beginning to diversify its operations to become a multi-season destination.

With annual skier visits around 400,000, 900cm of snowfall and 1657 feet of vertical, Mount Washington compares favourably to the top resorts in North America. In terms of infrastructure, the Resort boasts 9 lifts, including the new Boomerang Quad, the first lift of it’s type in Canada. This lift now accesses the Outback, a new 400-acre playground for riders of double black diamond ability in the winter season. This sets the stage for world-class Free Ski and Board events to be held at the Resort as the breathtaking terrain is only matched by the amazing views of the Pacific far below.

Mount Washington Alpine Resort is one of the best Nordic destinations in North America and it’s huge variety of trails, from Olympic-class to weekend recreational, wind around some of the finest terrain in the world. Mount Washington has over 55 km of groomed Nordic trails and this will more than double in the next few years as the Resort positions itself as the preferred Nordic Training Site leading up to the 2010 Winter Games in Whistler-Blackcomb. Olympic-class Nordic Teams will train on similar terrain as the host venue, up to three months ahead of the games in order to acclimatize for the incredibly challenging and contested Nordic sports. Mount Washington is the closest airport to Whistler as the crow flies and it’s altitude of its Nordic terrain as well as snow quality are almost a perfect match. The Mount Washington Alpine Resort Nordic Centre is anchored by Raven Lodge, the recently completed building that is constructed almost entirely of wood from the mountain, using the beautiful and traditional building technique of post and beam. In the next few years Mount Washington will see a huge increase in the size and scope of it’s Nordic Trail System, close to 100km are in the works.

All of the activities detailed at existing family alpine resorts and nordic destinations such as sleigh rides, snowshoeing, fishing, hiking, biking, wildlife viewing, canoeing, kayaking are either offered at Mount Washington or in the adjacent Strathcona Provincial Park. The resorts studied also tend to position their village/resort as a base camp or hub from which guests can pursue activities throughout the region.

Increasingly, many of the family resorts are also packaging their products more extensively and combining activities, accommodation and transport into an “all-inclusive” package. In terms of conference facilities, many resorts like Mount Washington utilize their day lodge during the summer and shoulder seasons for meeting and conferences. However, there are a significant number of resorts that also have purpose built facilities that are usually developed as part of a large hotel.

In terms of real estate characteristics, Mount Washington has considerably less development than the other resorts studied, and the development to date has been on a relatively ad-hoc basis. With its recent Vision statement, Mount Washington is well placed to take advantage of, and learn, from many of the other resorts. This is in terms of real estate mix, type of ownership, and the amount of retail space required; the latter has been a factor that many of the resorts contacted believed they had underestimated.

Close Proximity to Nearby Attractions

Mount Washington provides the perfect venue for a base camp experience.Visitors and residents located on the mountain are well positioned to take advantage of the other key attractions in the region. Within a one hour drive of Mount Washington you can enjoy:

• Strathcona Provincial Park, the oldest park in BC (comprised of more than 250,000 hectares), complete with the famous Comox Glacier
• The full service communities of Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, Gold River and Cumberland
• Numerous marine adventures such as Whale Watching, Bear Watching, Salmon Fishing, Sea Kayaking, Scuba Diving, Zodiac Tours, etc.
• Crown Isle Resort & Golf Community and three other top calibre courses
• Oak Bay Marine Group’s Painters Lodge & April Point Resort
• Denman and Hornby Islands • Horne Lake Caves
• Numerous lakes and coastal environments of Strait of Georgia, nicknamed by Jacques Cousteau as the ‘Emerald Sea’
• Spectacular wild rivers and waterfalls • Numerous regional festivals

Mountain Activities & Amenities

The respondents surveyed during the 2002 on-mountain research, were asked to select the types of amenities and activities that they would like to participate in, if offered at Mount Washington.

The results indicated:
Night Skiing There is an overwhelming support for Night Skiing with 80% of all respondents expressing interest, while 75% of those aged 19 years or older supported the idea. Night skiing was expanded for the winter 2002/03 season, averaging 400 skiers nightly.

Guided and Organized Adventure Activities Overall, snowmobiling (52%) is the guided or organized winter activity that respondents are most likely to participate in if offered at Mount Washington. This was followed by dog sled rides (45%) and snowcat tours (32%). Overall hiking/climbing (53%) is the most popular summer guided or organized activity, followed by ATV trail riding (39%) and canoeing/kayaking (39%). Climbing and mountaineering are also popular with 29% of respondents. Guided snowmobiling was added for the winter 2002/03 season and guided ATV tours were added for the summer 2002 season in response to our respondents interests.

Recreational and Leisure Activities and Programs 42% of all respondents cited swimming as the most preferred activity to be offered on the mountain. Outdoor waterslides (41%) and mini-golf (38%) are also very popular. 39% of all respondents cited a Teen Activity Centre as the most popular facility needed. Other popular activities included arts & crafts (26%) and photography (26%).

Other leisure activities not shown above also found to be important were: • Live Music • Day Spa • Movies/Theatre • Health & Nutrition programs

All of these activities are being carefully considered for inclusion in the Resort Master Plan.

Significant Buyer Interest

Significant Buyer Interest from the British Columbia Marketplace

Significant research has been conducted between 2000 and 2002 to help determine the potential demand for recreational estate at Mount Washington Alpine Resort. Two significant components of that research are:

An On-mountain consumer research survey in which 1,327 people completed surveys during their visit to Mount Washington. Due to the large sample size, results were able to be segmented by skier type (e.g. Downhill/snowboard, Nordic, Season passholder and potential buyers).

A mail survey to 3,500 Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island (small portion from US I-5 corridor) residents who had recently participated in outdoor activities within mountain settings. An excellent response rate of 22% was achieved for the mail survey. The following tables/graphs and points illustrate some of the findings from the two surveys and focus primarily on the respondents that indicated they were interested in purchasing alpine recreational real estate (e.g. potential buyers).

The mail survey distributed to the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island illustrates a strong desire to own recreational real estate with 53% of respondents either: lukewarm, need more information, somewhat interested or very interested. Season passholders at Mount Washington displayed a significant (46%) interest in owning real estate at Mount Washington. In addition, approximately 30% of Nordic skiers were interested in owning real estate.

Bear Lodge, the long-awaited twin to Appia Development’s Deer Lodge commenced construction in May 2004. A waiting list of confirmed buyers exceeded the unit offering of this condo-hotel, even before the roof was in place.

The type of product that appeals most strongly (32%) to all groups (except the Nordic skiers) is a condo home in the main village. The second most popular (18%) type of product among the user groups is a singlefamily house, followed by a hotel unit (11%) in the main village. Not surprisingly, Nordic skiers strongly favoured (45%) a condo type product by the Nordic centre, as opposed to the main village. Potential buyers in the Lower Mainland mail survey favoured a single-family home (32%) or cabin, although there was also substantial demand for a condo home (25%) in the main village area.

The majority of on mountain respondents favoured two bedrooms plus a den (21%) and two bedrooms (16%) was also popular. Studio’s and one-bedroom units were popular with 12% of potential buyers. The mail survey respondents produced similar results with two bedroom plus den (31%) and two bedroom (30%) units being the most popular.

The vast majority (63%) of potential buyers surveyed at Mount Washington are interested in full ownership of their recreational property, however over 22% were also interested in a quarter share arrangement.

Similarly, potential buyers in the mail survey were mainly (70%) interested in full ownership of recreational property.

Significant demand for high quality Vancouver Island recreational property

Mount Washington real estate has historically sold well. The developments of Blueberry Hill, Creekside, Paradise Ridge, Parkview Place and Ptarmigan Ridge all sold out within 18 months of completion. The Deer Lodge Condo-Hotel (located slope-side) sold exceptionally well. Appia Developments has since added Bear Lodge, a twin accommodation facility adjacent to Deer Lodge.

Both other master planned all season resorts such as Crown Isle near Courtenay and Tigh-Na-Mara Resort in Parksville have experienced high absorption rates for unit sales above $240 sq.ft.

Travel Wholesaler & Meeting Planner Industries

Interest from the Travel Wholesaler and Meeting Planner Industries

A number of major travel wholesalers, meeting planners and corporations responsible for booking travel for meetings at resorts throughout western Canada were contacted, through personal interviews and faxed surveys. Together meeting planners and corporations constitute a large market of potential clients for mountain resorts. On average, meeting planners organize approximately 17 meetings annually.

The seasonality of meetings and conferences strongly favours mountain resorts as the majority of meetings take place in the shoulder and summer months – two seasons that presently hold substantial capacity at Mount Washington.

Meeting planners, corporations and travel wholesalers agreed that the most important amenities are hot tubs, a swimming pool and cafés/restaurants.

The village ambiance/atmosphere is also considered an important aspect of the mountain experience. Mount Washington is well placed to capitalize on a number of these key resort attributes.

Mount Washington currently has many of the activities that are of interest to these groups such as skiing/boarding, hiking and biking, while many of the programs planned for the mountain will also appeal to this audience. However, some investment in facilities (e.g. designated conference/meeting rooms) is required to attract some of the corporate and meeting planner markets. In the summer of 2003 Mount Washington hosted a multi-provincial conference for a major retail chain. Attendance over the four day conference was in excess of 600 people.

The responses indicate that with improved facilities, amenities and recreational programming, especially in the summer and shoulder seasons, Mount Washington would be an appealing destination to the travel wholesalers, meeting planners, and corporate markets.

Analysis Suggests Significant Market Demand

Resort Hotel Analysis suggests significant market demand.

An assessment of competitive and partially competitive properties on Vancouver Island was completed in 2001 to establish the current supply and capacity within the local industry.

With the exception of a few hotels and resorts, the existing supply of available properties and rooms tend to be small, unattractive and only provide the basic quality demanded by today’s travelers. There is a high proportion of leakage of demand to properties in the Interior and/or Whistler, from the central Vancouver Island region due to a lack of quality winter recreational resort product.

The latent demand that is typically associated with new additions to supply, will also contribute to a strong initial demand. It is reasonable to anticipate that the introduction of at least one new moderately priced property will open up Mount Washington to new markets that previously did not stay on the mountain due to a lack of quality oriented hotel properties.

Many wholesalers interviewed have also indicated that they have avoided the area due to the lack of wholesale bookable rooms, while meeting planners noted the lack of centralized conference facilities as a barrier to utilizing Mount Washington for larger, high-value clients.

The existing supply of condominium and hotel properties on Vancouver Island consists of older units that are becoming increasingly more difficult to book, while newer properties are being absorbed quickly into the market.

Existing owners illustrate demand for Real Estate

Current real estate owners at Mount Washington were contacted to determine some of the preferences and experiences they had as buyers. The majority (56%) had purchased four bedroom plus properties, followed by three (36%) bedroom and 11% brought two bedroom properties. The majority (36%) paid over $250,000 for their property at Mount Washington, while 22% paid between $75,000 and $149,999. Over half (53%) of the owners had purchased their property within one year of visiting the resort, while a further 36% purchased within 2 to 5 years.

The key features that influenced the owners decision to purchase real estate were in order of importance:

• Easy ski in/out access • Sun Exposure, views • Unlimited use of real estate • Location within easy walk of main village • Extent of skiable terrain

The main reason for purchasing property at Mount Washington was for it’s natural beauty, unique family ambience, ski slopes and facilities, investment and location. Owners enjoy Mount Washington because it is a well established, successful resort, family oriented, very intimate and quaint, with abundant, natural beauty.

Expanded terrain and improved lift access has improved accessibility to the slopes for years to come. Existing owners suggested the following ideas for attracting more estate buyers in the future:

• More activities
• Expand the existing ski facilities
• More security to maintain the peacefulness of the mountain
• Make it year round
• More promotion
• Provide freehold titles
• Better development plans
• Better design guidelines
• Prevent over saturation in development
• Increase the use of landscaping

Planned With Environmental Sensitivity

Designed, planned & operated in a professional and environmentally sensitive manner

The resort respects the natural surroundings and seeks to maintain and enhance these through sustainable operational practices.

Mount Washington is continuing with its environmental monitoring and its relationship with BC Parks, their downstream neighbour, is positive. The onmountain beautification program continues and more and more green is appearing. There is a staff environmental committee that meets on a regular basis with management which acts on their recommendations.

With the passing of the federal Endangered Species Act in June, the resort has to be particularly diligent with the protection of the Vancouver Island Marmot. It is the most endangered mammal on the earth, and the largest active colony is on Mount Washington. The resort is working very closely with the Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Foundation to ensure that their new facility is successful in getting the population back into safe numbers once again. There are a number of teams on the mountain each summer undertaking marmot research. Five different litters have been born in captivity on Mount Washington and for the first time the biologists are positive about regrowth of the species.

Mount Washington once again received major recognition in terms of awards. Attractions Canada selected Mount Washington as the Provincial winner in the Leisure and Amusement category. The award was presented in 2002 in Edmonton.

Tourism BC, the Council of Tourism Associations, Oceans Blue Foundation and West World Magazine awarded Mount Washington with the Star Fish Award. It is awarded annually to a resort in the province that best exemplifies environmentally responsible tourism. This was awarded at the annual banquet held for the Council of Tourism Associations in March, 2002 in Vancouver.

In 2001/02 the resort was awarded the Comox Valley Tourism, Tourism Excellence Award. Mount Washington is also the proud recipient of the 2002 Vancouver Island Business Excellence Award as Business of the Year. In 2004 Mount Washington was the recipient of 3 prestigious awards; The Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce Environmental Award, the Tourism Association of Vancouver Island Integrated Marketing Award and the Skies Above Award.

Mount Washington’s spectacular environment is the key to success for any future expansion to the resort.