Resort sees mudslide as an opportunity
Sludge being used to spruce up golf course
Resort officials in Fairmont B.C. are treating last month’s mudslide as a sludgy gift from Mother Nature.
The thousands of tonnes of debris left from the July 15 slide are now being used to spruce up one of the resort’s golf courses and build a berm against the neighbouring creek.
“We’re going to use what Mother Nature gave us,” said Marke Dickson, director of sales and marketing at the resort. “It’ll be a monument to July 15.”
The resort recently appointed well-known golf course architect Doug Carrick to give the Mountainside Golf Course a facelift. Carrick has designed many of the country’s finest courses, including Greywolf in Panorama Mountain Village.
Debris is now heaped more than a metre high on parts of the course, which can be used to elevate tee boxes, add contours and create natural hazards. And while the 18-hole course was intended to have a rustic decor, Dickson said it’s become “gentrified” with country garden features added in recent times.
“The landscape has given us a lot of material like jag- ged pieces of rock,” he said. “We’re going to incorporate those pieces to take it back to its roots.”
Fairmont officials aim to have the Mountainside course open for next year’s May long weekend. Meanwhile, the resort is ready to reopen all other services Friday after being closed for 19 days.