Cue the fanfare, start the drum roll: A fully functioning, world-class gondola system has opened for business in Squamish. This ambitious project would have received top billing on that ’90s TV variety show “How’d they do that?” which explored the secrets behind apparently impossible stunts, procedures, and magic tricks.
The notion of anchoring the Sea to Sky Gondola in its present location at the foot of Mount Habrich was first presented to the community in July 2011 by David Greenfield and Trevor Dunn, two of the principals in the undertaking. The fact that this operation morphed from a proposal to a physical reality in less than three years, in a jurisdiction where the number of scuttled ventures approximates the inventory of derelict vessels blighting surrounding waterways, borders on the miraculous.
What we have here is the confluence of ambition, preparation and strategic opportunity. Both Greenfield and Dunn were employed by Intrawest in the recreational real estate development field. Jayson Faulkner, a founding partner and manager of the gondola, has held various high-profile positions in the recreation industry and is currently a Whistler municipal councillor.
Once the proposal was introduced, most local residents, the Squamish Nation, and three levels of government, including the DOS, the SLRD, and the Province of British Columbia, endorsed what they believed was a viable, game-changing attraction.
Amid an array of available outdoor recreation options, the gondola was perceived as the missing link in the community’s quest for destination venue status. Faced with the downturn in the forestry industry and mill closings, DOS officials and successive municipal councils looked to tourism, retail/service and the knowledge sector as potential economic engines.
At the provincial level, tourism was gaining more traction as a tax and employment generator. Two of the hallmarks of that heightened interest were the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the Jumbo Glacier Resort, 53 kilometres west of Invermere.
Nudged by this favourable business climate, the gondola proponents tracked national and international travel trends, conducted traffic studies, and held discussions with independent tour operators, Tourism Whistler, and Tourism Squamish, as well as frequent meetings with a variety of stakeholders. And they came to the table thoroughly prepared to navigate the procedural and regulatory hurdles standing in the way of a done deal.
This start-up has been a classic example of being in the right place at the right time. But it is also a textbook illustration of due diligence.
Too often, that elevated level of prudence has been in short supply in the hothouse Squamish business arena. In a jittery marketplace, the result is often squandered time and wasted money. From the outset, the gondola proponents understood that concept. Even at this early stage, all indicators point to a promising future for an enterprise whose arrival will redefine this community.
