Rossland’s Red Mountain Resort continues to kindle kudos from national press.
The Toronto Sun released a poll last week that ranked Red as one of the top 10 ski resorts in the world and the best destination for advanced skiers.
“We don’t spend ad dollars in large newspapers so we were pretty excited to learn that last week the Toronto Sun ranked Red one of the top 10 ski resorts in the world,” said Red spokesman Mikka Hakkola in a release.
The poll rated the ski hills based on beginner, intermediate, advanced and all-around best resort, from the friendly slopes of Geilo, Norway to the sprawling, 100-lift, 10,000 hectare Val d’Isere ski resort in France.
“Deep in the Kootenay Mountains of British Columbia lies Red Mountain, a resort with backwoods charm that is praised by Ski Canada Magazine and Frommer’s as among the best resorts in North America. It has beginner slopes but this is a resort for the grown-ups,” wrote the Sun.
The Lake Louise Mountain Resort is the only other Canadian resort to make the list, while U.S. slopes include Jackson Hole, Wyo. as one of the best for advanced skiers and Killington, Vt. in the top three for beginners.
Tourism Rossland actively recruits major media outlets to promote the hill and the city, but this one came out of nowhere, says tourism director Deanne Steven.
“That wasn’t one I had worked on at all, but I was delighted to see it.”
Steven spends much of the winter promoting Rossland and Red as a package, and this year has a number of media lined up including Skiing Magazine and, in partnership with Tourism B.C., a U.K. media group is visiting in February as part of a “Powder-Highway” trip.
“All this kind of exposure is way better . . . we spend a lot more time and effort on media hosting than we do on buying ads just because it’s so much more credible as a news source.”
The strategy seems to work as accolades also poured in from Ski Canada Magazine that rated it “The Best Place to Get Lost,” “The Best New Playground” (with more than 120 hectares of off-piste terrain freshly gladed on Grey Mountain), the “Best New Lodge” and “Best Ski-Bum Town.”
Plugging the Golden City as, “Home of the original ski bum, Olaus Jeldness, Rossland is celebrating more than 113 years of skiing and – living to ski.”
Indeed, the nearly 90 runs stretched across two mountains with 1,700 skiable acres, 880 metres of vertical terrain, and a burgeoning cat-skiing operation offers diversity and thrills that will keep skiers occupied for days.
Additionally, Steven attributes much of the exposure to Red’s exceptional value, history and charm.
“One of the selling features that I am always really pleased with is that we have a good range of products, we have something for the backpacker all the way up to the very luxurious skier,” said Steven. “We are not a big-box resort and we never will be.”